Rise of the Mechanical Digimon
by nld200xy
Summary: A group of unlikely individuals stumble upon old mechs with models similar to those of animals called Digimon. Using them, the group must protect their home from an invading army that also has these creations. Can they do it?
1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Digimon franchise. Also, this is another one inspired by an RP I did with a couple of friends, though honestly, I think this is loads better than the last one of these I did. (Although it did take me a long time to consider turning this into a fanfic) And since this is based on an RP, naturally, some of these characters aren't mine.

Long ago, humans were at war with an invading army known as the Virus sector. They arrived wielding horrible machines of destruction, giant robots known as... Digimon. Though they could not speak, they still had minds of their own and responded to their pilots' fighting spirit when they felt like it. Unfortunately, the Virus Sector had a lot of that, so this wasn't really a hindrance. Luckily, those being attacked managed to figure out how to build their own Digimon through trial and error. Their will to survive overpowered the enemies' fighting spirit thus allowing them to win the war.

Years went by without a war starting up again, so the Digimon were scrapped, locked away for safe keeping until the time struck... that time may be sooner than we think. Sadly, those alive during the war are all dead and now only a couple of people know of the war that took place and the existence of the Digimon and so far, they're keeping it under wraps. Will someone else discover them and pilot them, thus allowing them to save our world again? We'll just have to find out.

Our story currently begins in the very city where these machines were built. A young man with blue hair, a slim build, a blue T-shirt and black pants named Neil exited a building.

It had been a rough day for Neil as he exited his work station, pushing his hand up against his back, snapping his bone back into place. All the while, he couldn't help but think, 'God, I hate this job.'

At that moment, a cute young woman with short black hair, a sky-blue sweater and black shorts waved at Neil and exclaimed, "Oi, Neil-Chan!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Neil turned to face his good friend and said, "Hi, Mato. Mind giving me a lift home? My back's not agreeing with me right now."

Mato simply blinked, her eyes going wide as she remarked, "Eh? People will think you're weak, not to mention lazy!" Neil remarking, "You know as much as I do that I don't have my license yet," his eyes sparkling as he gave the girl a sad puppy dog face.

Mato simply chuckled at this and said, "Alright, fine, but you owe me for this," walking over to her car and opening the door, saying, "Get in."

During this time, a young blond woman wearing a white sleeveless shirt and blue shorts named Kotaha was stuck in traffic, a vein on her forehead as she spat, "Hurry Up! F**king bastard! I don't have all day! My sister is in labour in the hospital! Let me go! Selfish bitch!"

Of course, this wasn't exactly the most normal of behaviour for her as she was usually a lot nicer, but with things as they were right now, it was only natural she'd be frustrated. Luckily, traffic died down soon enough and she was on her way.

Meanwhile, a slim Spanish man with tan skin, long black hair and a muscular build had just exited the building a modelling agency. Not only was he exhausted but also a bit angered as one of the girls watching his session had stolen his shirt, the man only wearing pants right now.

While walking, he sighed, "Man this sucks... Tokyo is a mile away... oh well, my Latin blood with warm me."

Meanwhile, Kotaha had made it to the hospital to see her sister's baby being delivered, the baby being a beautiful little boy as she smiled and said, "He's beautiful," the younger woman, Lizia saying, "I think I'll call him Kiyomaro," Kotaha nodding and saying, "I like that name."

While riding with Mato, the two came to a stoplight as Neil let out a sigh and smiled at Mato saying, "Thanks... you're the best," Mato smiling and replying, "No sweat! It's what friends do!" Mato noticing the light turn green as she pushed on the pedal, starting the car up again.

Neil was a tad unprepared for this rapid start as he bounced briefly in his seat, his hand pressing up against Mato's breast, his eyes widening, his mouth wide open as sweat ran down his head, the boy removing his hand and shouting, "SORRY!" covering his face.

He'd always had this problem around her ever since High school. And despite all the years, Mato still couldn't keep a straight face whenever he did it, and it showed as she punched the side of his face with her right fist, angrily turning the car as Neil's cheek rammed into the window next to him. Sure, it didn't crack the window, but it still dealt extra pain as Neil groaned, rubbing the spot as a light tear ran down the side of his face.

In seconds, the two stopped at Neil's house as Mato smiled, letting down a nervous sweat drop while saying, "Gomen, Neil-Chan. I gotta stop doing that one of these days," Neil sighing, "It's alright. It's not like you haven't done worse to me before," getting out of the car and bowing in respect.

This was one of the few Japanese customs the boy was actually great at, and it wasn't much. See, Neil had moved from Canada to Japan when he was eight years old, Mato being the first friend he made. Her hyperactive nature and overall cuteness made her hard not to like for the boy and in high school, he'd developed serious feelings for her thus leading up to his clumsiness around her. Unfortunately, despite being 20 years of age now, Neil was still afraid to admit his feelings.

As Neil entered his house, he slumped down on the couch and hugged the pillow muttering, "Oh, pillow, you're so soft... like Mato's boobies..."

Drooling briefly, his eyes widened as he shook his head and groaned, "I really shouldn't be thinking about that sort of thing. It's indecent."

Sadly, he was lying to himself. Neil often thought about Mato, even going so far as to have wet dreams about her every day. He felt ashamed but knew it was only natural for a straight guy.

All the while, Alejandro wandered the streets and started to feel cold, shivering as he sighed, "I can't believe I'm doing this," holding out his thumb. Every time someone passed him by, he couldn't help but assume that they saw him as some kind of creep who consumed steroids when he'd really gotten his physic from honest hard work.

Around this time, a young woman with short green hair, slightly tanned skin and a brown tube top named Midori was travelling on her motorbike from work with a happy look. She'd had a rather good day at work. However, her good mood soon ended when she found herself almost hit by a car that failed to notice the stop sign, her eyes going wide.

Unfortunately, this car belonged to Kotaha, who after everything that had happened this day was a tad out of it, the woman shouting, "OH MY GOD, ARE YOU OKAY!" getting out of the car.

She then ran over to the younger woman and bowed her head saying, "I'm so sorry. My sister just had my nephew and my boyfriend proposed this morning!" Midori rubbing her head and saying, "It's okay. Your problems are far worse than mine."

Kotaha had her eyes shut as she winced, saying, "No, that was terrible, almost running into you!" Midori remembering that she hadn't been hit and sighed, "It's alright. My cycle's in one piece and so am I."

Then putting on proper composure, she held out her hand and said, "I'm Midori."

Kotaha shook her hand with a smile and said, "I'm Kotaha. Nice to meet you."

The conversation was cut short as other drivers started honking their horns shouting, "HEY! YOU'RE HOLDING UP THE LINE!" as Midori glared at the men shouting this and spat, "SHUT UP! WE'LL LEAVE, YOU IMPATIENT PRICKS!"

Kotaha laughed nervously and said, "I'll see you around, I guess," getting back into her car as Midori nodded and said, "Later," getting on her motorcycle and taking off.

Alejandro had been standing outside for 20 minutes with his thumb out, not getting a single person to notice him and feeling cold. He couldn't believe it, hitch-hiking without a shirt.

Midori was driving by when she saw the man standing out in the cold. She may have hated men, but she always felt sympathy towards those in need. As such, she sighed and came to a hault in front of him asking, "Excuse me, but do you need a lift? You look like you're suffering and my motorcycle's got enough seat space for two."

Looking at Midori, a big smile formed on Alejandro's face as he said, "Thank you so much," getting onto the back half of the seat and holding onto her for support, Midori saying, "Now don't get any ideas," before taking off and asking, "So, where to? Your lack of a shirt tells me you must be homeless."

"No, I have a place," Alejandro replied before sighing, "Some girl in Sapporo took my shirt from my bag while I was modelling."

"You sure you didn't do anything to provoke her?" Midori asked, a scowl forming on her face. In her mind, girls never did anything mean to boys without a reason.

Alejandro thought deeply about this and shook his head saying, "Nope, she must have done it by her own free will."

Midori let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, figuring that he was lying but still felt a little sorry for him and asked, "So where do you live?" Alejandro replying, "About 2 blocks to the right... then a block to the left... then go straight for a block.. then you'll be there."

The girl soon pulled up to his house and let him out saying, "Be careful. It's hard to know who to trust here," then took off. She couldn't wrap her head around the very notion of a girl doing something so heartless.

The next day, it just seemed like a typical work day. Neil and Mato were both loading a table onto a cart, unaware that just a few miles from a city, an army of bat-like robots had appeared. These were some of the Digimon referred to earlier, these ones specifically known as Vilemon. They may not have been the strongest models out there but they were still a force to be reckoned with. These particular robots had large mouths with built-in speakers to produce deadly sound waves, their bodies grey with white mid-sections, an orange part on their heads representing hair and yellow for their hands.

Mato noticed Neil struggling with the table and exclaimed, "Oi, put more oomph into it!"

Kotaha had been taking her shift in the nursing ward, her mind full of how great her day had been, much less stressful than yesterday. Strangely enough, treating patients soothed her.

All the while, Alejandro was off work and decided to take a break and lounge around town, not really sure where he was going. It was just one of those days, both people completely unaware of the danger that was approaching.

Back with Neil and Mato, Neil tried his hardest, groaning from the pain in his arms when the two finally managed to load the last table, Neil wiping sweat off of his forehead before an explosion could be heard outside.

"What in the hell was that?" the boy asked.

Meanwhile, outside, the group of Vilemon were releasing shock waves from the loud sound systems inside of their mouths with a group of people wearing black outfits inside of them. Hearing this, Mato's curiosity got the better of her as she exclaimed, "Let's go see, Neil!" grabbing his wrist and pulling him with her to her car, driving toward the chaos at full speed.

Midori was driving by on her cycle when this caught her attention. As the destruction took place, Midori stared wide-eyed as she groaned, "Men must be up to this."

All the while, Neil and Mato arrived to be spotted by a group of robots, the robots giving chase, leading them back to their work place as Neil's eyes were wide, the boy at a loss for words, the two running out of the car and toward the building, Neil breathing heavily.

Soon enough, the two were back in the building with the doors closed only for the robots to start scratching at it, the pilots shouting, "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

At that moment, Neil looked around as many other employees were in absolute panic, the boy saying, "Maybe we should hide in that one room no one ever uses," pointing to a door that said 'Secrets lie beyond this gate. Beware!' Of course, this label was always seen by the staff as a weird joke played by their boss.

As soon as the two entered the large secluded area, Neil sighed and said, "I hope the others are okay," then turned and noticed himself face-to-face with a big dinosaur, his eyes going wide as he trembled.

The man continued to stare with absolute shock at the large orange dinosaur. As if that wasn't enough, there were a whole bunch of other creatures. However, Neil soon noticed they had bolts and screws in them and rather blocky builds, sighing with relief as he said, "Thank god, they're just machines..." then blinked asking, "Where did these come from?"

Before he could question this further, the orange dragon robot's chest opened up revealing a cockpit as Neil stood silent. It was as if the robot was inviting him to enter.

Another, a blue dinosaur-like robot with a face more like that of a dragon opened up as well, Mato staring in absolute disbelief. What did it all mean? Were the robots... asking the two to pilot them?

As Midori rode through town avoiding the robots, she soon found herself surrounded. As if this wasn't bad enough, she had also ended up in front of the hospital where Kotoha was. Her eyes widened when she saw the girl in danger and felt so helpless that she was unable to defend herself against the robot army.

Kotaha backed away with a look of anger, holding a sick child in her arms. There was no way she'd let the robots destroy the hospital.

One of the robots' mouths opened up wide as a slender woman with red hair in a ponytail and wearing a violet T-shirt stepped out, saying, "I'll let you live as long as you surrender yourself to us. We'll lock you in a cell. If you resist, we WILL kill you!"

Midori's eyes widened. She couldn't believe this. The commander of this group was a fellow woman?

Kotaha let out a deep breath and said, "I'll go. Just don't take the children," the other woman letting out a sigh and holding onto Kotaha's wrist before saying, "The children are also coming with us. As long as they're associated with you, they're also our enemies! But since they're children, we won't kill them even if they do resist, but they're still coming with us!"

Kotaha growled before retorting, "I never said they're associated with me! I'd rather die than let you lay a finger on them!"

"So be it..." the woman said as she whipped out a pistol, holding it up to Kohata's head as Midori rushed in, dodging the shock waves aimed at her and kicked the woman hard in the face, causing her to drop her pistol and breathed heavily, the woman rubbing her face and shouting, "KILL HER! KILL HER NOW!" the other robots charging up their sound systems.

"Let's go," Midori said, grabbing Kotaha's arm and adding, "I hope this isn't too stressful for you," and took off, the shock waves barely missing as Kotaha took a deep breath and said, "Thank you so much..."

All the while, Alejandro was running from one of the robots cursing all the while, hoping for something to come and save his life. This was really weird.

Neil was hesitant to enter the robot before him until he felt a presence drawing him in, the boy asking, "Why do you want me to enter you? I'm a wuss! I can't pilot a battle robot!"

However, as was expected, Mato didn't feel any pressure at all as she simply entered the blue robot before her, grinning and saying, "Come on, Neil-Chan!"

"But I'm a coward!" then remembering what was going on outside, he sighed, "but I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

With that in mind, he climbed into the cockpit as it closed up, the robot letting out a battle cry before its name appeared, Neil saying aloud, "Rookie battle mech: Model Agumon."

Mato's robot's name also appeared as she said, "Rookie battle mech: Model V-mon!"

Strangely enough, one robot was actually missing. In fact, as if irony had taken a sudden turn for the better, this very mech was in front of Alejandro right now, a small white knight. Alejandro saw it open up and instantly decided to enter it, reading out its name as a the rookie battle mech, Pawnchessmon White Version.

After Neil had gotten used to being inside Agumon, flames started to spew from the machine's mouth as it shot down the door to the room, the employees staring as their boss, a 27-year-old woman with pink hair, a green tube top and a blue mini-skirt named Miss Yomaki, looked and thought, 'I didn't think it would be time to reveal that yet.'

"Sorry about the door!" Neil spat as he piloted the mech toward the main door, opening it more like a human would as the Vilemon turned to them, the pilots starting to panic as one asked, "They have mechs too?"

With that, Mato's V-mon mech charged toward the bat-like robots, spinning its arms around like windmill blades, the mech opening its mouth and letting out the words, "BUN-BUN PUNCH!" punching multiple robots down, causing them to lose power as the pilots escaped on jet packs.

"PEPPER BREATH!" Agumon spat, opening its mouth as a small cannon appeared, shooting a fireball from it and blowing up another robot, Neil's eyes wide open.

Mato giggled and said, "It's like I'm in Evangelion or Transformers," Neil saying, "Reminds me more of Gurren Lagann."

Alejandro took a deep breath and said, "Alright, let's try this out," Pawnchessmon shouting, "PAWN SPEAR!" jabbing its spear into one of the robots, causing it to malfunction.

During this time, Midori and Kotaha were trapped against a wall as Midori grimaced, saying, "Nice knowing you, Kotaha," but before the robots could strike, one was cut down the middle as it exploded, a pair of claws revealing itself as the Agumon stood tall and proud with V-mon by his side, Midori's eyes widening, Kotaha staring in shock and shouting, "WHAT IS ALL THIS!"

Midori got over the shock of it all, realizing she was safe smiled but noticed more Vilemon appearing for the voice of the red-head from earlier to shout, "THEY HAVE MECHS TOO! DON'T HOLD BACK!"

"I'm guessing that's their captain," Mato said before adding, "Let's do this," V-mon nodding before lowering its head and shouting, "V HEADBUTT!" ramming hard into the leader's mech, the woman growling angrily as Alejandro showed up out of curiosity, soon having Pawnchessmon strike her down, the woman fleeing on a mech as soon, the other Vilemon models were torn to shreds, the pilots all returning to whence they came.

Pawnchessmon opened up as Alejandro grinned before saying, "Worry not, for I have saved you!" leaping out of his mech and attempting to land with grace only to end up losing focus and landing face-first in front of Midori, his hands lightly pulling on her shorts.

Midori grimaced and said, "Get your hand off of me right now, you perv..." then remembered who he was and groaned, "I can't believe I helped you yesterday."

Alejandro laughed nervously, removing his hands and saying, "Ah, sorry Chika."

Midori's look of anger then turned to one of relief as she sighed, "Well, whoever you are, you chased them off."

Mato's mech opened up as well as she grinned saying, "Yep, we sure did! Now does anyone know what's going on?"

"I wish I knew," Midori replied with a sigh as the mechs opened up, the two humans coming out as Midori's eyes widened. Sure, she expected at least one of the pilots to be a girl, but the pilot of the Agumon was a... boy? No, boys couldn't be that competent, could they? Sure, Alejandro had piloted the Pawnchessmon, but Midori's mind was too disappointed to even take that into consideration.

Never the less, the day had at least been saved, but they knew it wasn't over. All Kotaha and Midori could do now was wonder if they had robots like that too.


	2. Chapter 2

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Disclaimer: This fic contains quite a bit of ecchi. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

As things finally calmed down, Mato climbed out of V-mon and said, "Hello, I'm Mato," a cute smile on her face.

Midori smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Midori," then glared at Neil and asked, "Did you learn your skills from a woman?" as Neil blinked and rubbed his head saying, "Skills?" Kotaha cutting in and asking, "Where did you get those robots?" Alejandro saying, "Mine just came to me..."

"We found ours in an abandoned room in the place we work at," Neil replied with a shrug, "There were a whole bunch of robots in there," Kotaha grinning and asking, "Can you take us there to see them?"

"First of all, I don't know if that's such a good idea, and secondly, you have no idea where we work," Neil remarked as Midori sighed, "As painful as it is to admit, he is right about that."

Kotaha looked a little disappointed by this until Mato shrugged and said, "Aw, come on, Neil-Chan, we can show them," Neil sighing, "Well, it's not like anyone's still gonna be there to object to it. They probably all ran off."

Mato then offered a seat in V-mon next to her for Kotaha, the nurse climbing on only for Midori to pull her off saying, "I'd rather not travel with a guy, if that's okay with you," as Neil grinned nervously, waving his fingers, Kotaha simply shrugging and hopping into Agumon next to Neil.

"Hi, I'm Kotaha, nice to meet you," she said with a bright smile as Agumon's belly closed.

"I'm Neil," the boy replied with a smile, then turning to the other guy asked, "I know you got a mech and all, but do you wanna follow us to where we found ours?" Alejandro nodding and replying, "I wanna see this for myself, too."

As if by instinct and not Neil's own will, Agumon took off as Neil fell to the side, his head pressing up against the side of Kohata's breast, his eyes widening as he started to panic his hand accidentally pressing up against the other one as Neil subconsciously squeezed it, more panic filling him as Agumon refused to slow down.

Midori was having a much more pleasant trip and luckily for Neil, neither she more Mato could see what was going on side of Agumon.

"STOP!" Kotaha screamed in agony, "I'M ENGAGED!"

"Really?" Neil asked, ignoring the awkwardness of the situation as he smiled and said, "That's wonderful news. Congratulations," Kotaha calming down a bit before saying, "Thanks... but could you kinda... you know... take your hand off me?"

"Oh, right," Neil said trying to pry his hands off. However, Agumon was going way too fast as his hand ended up grabbing the front of her top, pulling it down until her breasts were completely exposed, springing out from her top as Neil screamed in terror, shouting, "OH MY GOD, I AM SO SORRY! THIS IS TERRIBLE!"

Then looking down, he screamed, "OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HORMONES, CAN YOU NOT BE SO CREEPY AT THIS TIME!"

"No..." Kotaha replied, taking a deep breath, "Calm down. It's okay. It's okay... this robot just seems really shaky..."

At this moment, Mato turned to Midori next to her and asked, "So, what do you think?"

"This is so cool," Midori said with a grin as she smiled and said, "I'm jealous actually. You got a cool mech and I don't. I just got a motorbike."

"Thank you for taking this well," Neil said as Agumon eventually came to a stop, Neil sighing as he realized they were there.

"Please put your shirt up," Neil said, "If the others see this, they'll get the wrong idea."

Sadly, Agumon once again acted on his own accord, opening up the cockpit at the exact same time as the others, Kohata's shirt still halfway down and her boobs completely exposed, Midori fuming.

Kotaha noticed the others looking at her and felt so embarrassed that her face was red, slight tears in her eyes. To make matters worse, Mato was glaring at Neil asking, "Neil-Chan, what are you doing?" a maniacal look on her face along with a menacing aura coming from her, Neil's eyes wide with terror.

"It's not what you think!" he protested only to be beaten badly by both Mato and Midori seconds later, Midori taking a deep breath and hugging Kotaha, asking, "Did he hurt you?"

Kotaha shook her head and replied, "No, it was the robot jerking. He did it by accident," Neil's body twitching as he lay on the ground in agony, Midori shaking her head and sighing, "Typical of a man..."

After Kotaha lifted her shirt back up into place, Alejandro jumped out of his mech, looking as manly as possible. Seeing this, Midori slapped her forehead and said, "I should have left you to rot in the streets last night," Alejandro laughing and replying, "Oh, Chika, it's okay. I know my Latin charms have seduced you."

Neil rose to his feet, tears running down his eyes as he groaned, "I hate my life..." Mato patting him on the head and saying, "Aw, I'll forgive you. You are a year younger than me, after all," Neil groaning and thinking, 'She thinks I'm a child!'

However, he was glad she at least forgave him as he said, "Mato... best friend..." resting his hand against her shoulder as Midori rolled her eyes asking, "Now where are the mechs?"

At that moment, the other employees came out of hiding, Yomaki smiling and saying, "Well, you guys found them."

"Wait, you knew about this?" Neil asked as the woman nodded, the other employees staring in shock as she said, "Yep, my great grandfather helped build these babies. He told me not to tell a soul about them until the time was right."

"Well, it's no secret now," Alejandro replied as Kotaha asked, "What are you aiming to do with them?"

"My guess is we have to use these mechs to fight those other pilots," Midori said as the boss nodded, replying, "That's exactly it, but don't think it's that easy. See, those mechs choose their owners, meaning that Agumon will only work for Neil, V-mon will only work for Mato and Pawnchessmon will only work for... whoever the hell that is."

Alejandro beamed and announced, "My name is Alejandro! Don't you forget it!" Kotaha asking, "Do I get one, too?"

The other employees also wondered that as the boss shrugged and said, "Well, enter the back room. If you find a mech that's willing to open its hatch for you, it's yours. If not, well then, you don't get a mech."

"Well, that's dumb," Midori replied as Neil nodded and said, "Wouldn't that make saving us all more difficult?" Midori once again impressed by Neil's logic.

While headed to the room, Alejandro asked, "Wait, mine was just wandering the streets. Why wasn't that one in here?" Yomaki blinking and replying, "Wait, yours was Pawnchessmon, right? Yeah, that one went missing a long time ago. I guess that explains where it went."

With that, the group entered the room with all of the mechs, everyone wanting to get their hands on one, each trying out a mech. Sadly, no one else working at the building could operate a single mech. Luckily, though, Kotaha and Midori managed to find their own, Kotaha's in the form of a flower-like robot and Midori's being a dragon with drills for fingers.

Kotaha looked at hers, a model known as Lalamon, and said, "She's amazing..." Midori looking at hers, another rookie known as Monodramon and nodding in approval, saying, "A dragon. That fits me perfectly."

With that out of the way, Yomaki grinned and said, "From now on, you three newcomers are to work here and quit your old jobs. The world must not know that you pilot these mechs. We don't want to raise fear and alarm among your families."

"Wait!" Neil remarked, glaring at her, "Can you explain what's going on? Who are those people who attacked us and... well... why did they attack us?"

Kotaha butted in and added, "I'm sorry, but I simply can't quit my job at the hospital! Those people need me!" Alejandro simply shrugging and saying, "I'll do it. It beats modelling."

Yomaki shook her head and remarked, "If you care about the city, you will do as I say."

Then letting out a sigh, she explained, "Well, I guess you should know. See, it all started years ago..."

She then told what was pretty much covered up in the summary as Neil blinked, asking, "Why was this never recorded?"

Yomaki smacked Neil and replied, "Pay attention. That was explained in the story."

"So to put it simply," Mato stated, "there are bad guys trying to destroy the city."

"Pretty much," Yomaki replied as the workers asked, "What can we do to help?" the woman saying, "You are going to do your best to make people believe that this is a conference center by doing your usual tasks and not making this out to be the equivalent of a military base, got it?"

Alejandro and Midori both nodded, Alejandro saying, "I'll be more than happy two," Kotaha groaning, "But I have a fiance... what will I tell him?"

Yomaki thought about this and sighed, "Being a hero is difficult, but even he must not know. All you can tell him is that you have a new job, but since you don't seem the muscly type, I won't have you doing heavy lifting. You'll instead work in the kitchen and cook meals. I hope you're okay with that."

Kotaha nodded and said, "Okay... I guess it can't be helped..." Yomaki saying, "The rest of you work on setting up for events. That includes lifting heavy objects, putting out tables for clients, building stages and setting down chairs."

"Fine by me," Midori said with a shrug, "This would be my first real job since my current one is average at best."

And that was that. Everyone was sent home despite it being technically lunch time as Neil sighed, "So this is my fate..." then hung his head saying, "I'm not ready for this."

Midori looked at the boy with concern but refused to say anything at this moment. She instead smiled at Kotaha and said, "Well, we're gonna be partners in battle."

Mato, on the other hand, was super excited as she squealed, "Alright, we're gonna kick evil butt!" Neil chuckling, feeling a bit better. Mato's cute side always got the better of him.

Kotaha, despite being comforted by Midori, still felt really worried. This was a rare look for her, and it wasn't so much because she was now part of a war but because she was leaving behind a job that involved her curing the sick. However, she just had to trust the other doctors and nurses to do a good job without her.

Midori sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "It'll be okay. You got me to back you up," Kotaha putting on a light smile and saying, "You might just be the best friend I've ever had."

Alejandro, on the other hand, was thrilled at this new opportunity and instantly called up his agent to tell him he was quitting. He had no problem with this change whatsoever.

With that, Midori got on her motorcycle and said, "See you all tomorrow," taking off as Kotaha waved back before heading off on her own, Alejandro grinning and looking at Mato, asking, "Hey there, Chika, want me to walk you home?" Neil glaring with envy as Mato giggled and replied, "Thanks for the offer, but I got me a car, Mr... um..."

Alejandro," the man replied with a sigh, as Mato replied, "Oh yeah, Alex," Alejandro rolling his eyes and walking off on his own.

Neil let out a sigh of relief before remembering that it wasn't exactly nightfall yet as he turned to Mato and asked, "Hey, Mato, you wanna go have lunch somewhere? It is lunch time now, after all."

Mato nodded while suggesting a new Ramen place downtown called the Shinsengumi. It wasn't long until the two arrived there, taking their seats and placing their orders, the food arriving quickly.

Neil immediately went for his noodles when they arrived then remembered something, his eyes going wide as he bowed saying, "Itodakimosu."

Mato giggled and replied, "Oh, you big silly, it's 'Itadakimasu'," tasting the soup adding, "Remember, it's considered polite to eat the soup first."

"Good god," Neil sighed, "You know, I've been living here since I was 8 and I still haven't mastered everything about your culture," tasting the soup himself and groaning, "God I'm pathetic," Mato giggling and saying, "Aw, you're just slow on the uptake."

As Neil picked up the fish cake, he sighed, "At least I can more or less use chopsticks right now," as the small fishcake slipped out of the chopsticks, Neil trying to nab it only for the chopsticks to clip onto Mato's breast, the boy's eyes widening as the fish cake fell into her bowl, the boy quickly pulling the sticks away and bracing himself.

As was expected, Mato freaked and punched Neil hard in the face, before remarking, "Oh, you can use chopsticks, can you?" sarcastically, Neil groaning and switching to a spoon and fork combination, sighing, "Sorry..."

Mato smiled sweetly and patted the boy reassuringly on the shoulder as he smiled and said, "You're the still the best friend a guy could ever have."

During this time, a young man with black hair, a trench coat and ripped jeans was walking through town, listening to his headphones, not a care in the world. Kotaha just happened to be walking by when he bumped into her.

He took off his headphones and said, "Oh, sorry about that," Kotaha smiling and replying, "No, it's fine."

She then introduced herself as the man shook her hand and said, "I'm Neku," Kotaha nodding and saying, "Nice to meet you, Neku."

As Neil and Mato exited the restaurant, Neil turned to Mato and said, "I'm sorry," Mato giving him a noogie and replying, "Aw, come on, Neil-Chan, take it like a man!"

"No, I'm over that bit in the restaurant," the boy said, "It's just that I feel like I've been more of a nuisance to you than a friend. I mean, you drive me everywhere and we don't even live in the same house, thus taking time out of your life for my sake. You're always the one helping me out at work because I'm too weak to do half this stuff on my own, even the one-person tasks. What do I have to offer? I'm not physically strong or all that independent."

Mato gave Neil a serious look and remarked, "Neil-Chan, you gotta believe in yourself! Prove to everyone you're as good as them!" before noticing Neku walking right by them, clearly done his short conversation with Kotaha.

Neil turned and looked at him before saying, "Hey, that guy looks familiar... like someone we knew in grade 6 or something."

Mato blinked in response and turned, her eyes sparkling as she squealed, "Neku, is that you?" Neku turning and asking, "Mato?"

"Oh my god, it is Neku!" Neil spat, his eyes going wide as the man smiled lightly, saying, "Well, Mato and Shorty. It's been a while."

Neil grimaced and thought, 'Shorty? I'm as tall as he is,' before perking up and saying, "We haven't seen you in, like, forever."

Neku nodded as Mato gave him a hug, the man blushing lightly before sighing, "Mato, we've been through this," Mato letting go and giggling.

"Same old Neku," Neil said, shaking his head as he added, "Well, it's nice seeing you after all these years. What have you been up to?"

"Nothing much," Neku replied with a shrug, "Just taking care of my little sis as usual."

All of the sudden, the sound of an explosion resonated through the area, people panicking as Mato's eyes went wide, the woman exclaiming, "Not them again!" Neku tilting his head to the side and asking, "What do you mean by 'again'?"

Neil's eyes widened as the Vilemon had returned, only now there was a much bigger one with them that resembled a human with bat-like features. This was a stronger mech known as Devimon.

"Well, you know what we have to do!" Mato exclaimed, taking Neil's hand as the two ran off, Neku shouting, "Hey, wait a minute!" following close behind them.

The devil sliced open a building as Neil called back, "It's a secret!" hopping into Mato's car as the two took off without him.

As the duo arrived, Agumon quickly opened itself up as Neil leaped in, gulping and saying, "Oh god, I am so not ready for this," as Agumon quickly took off.

Meanwhile, Midori was driving around town looking desperately for the building. Not only had she forgotten where it was, she also hoped Kotaha could find her way. All the while, Neku continued to run through the city, wondering what was going on.

At that moment, the devil-like robot picked up Neku as a familiar woman piloting the machine grinned and said, "I think I'll use you as a hostage."

Midori screeched to a halt as Agumon flew out of the building, once again sort of against Neil's will as the girl quickly rushed into the building. However, when Neil and Mato saw Neku in the robot's grasp, both were in extreme panic.

Agumon started to attack blindly, the devil robot knocking the flames to the side then hitting Agumon dead-on as Neil groaned, Agumon trying to get back up only to be hit again, the boy shouting, "Agumon, what the hell are you doing! Use strategy!"

Mato rubbed her temple and sighed, "Geez, I have to help him out every time! Hit it V-mon!" the dinosaur robot heading toward Devimon with his head lowered.

The devil then proceeded to knock V-mon to the side as Midori charged in with Monodramon and the dragon robot shouted, "BEAT KNUCKLE!" hitting the devil robot with its drill fingers, plowing big holes into its shoulder as the woman grimaced, sparks starting to fly as it released Neku.

As Neku fell V-mon quickly recovered from the previous blow and flew toward him, grabbing him before he could fall to his death, Mato asking, "You okay?" as Neku laughed nervously, saying, "Yeah... somewhat..."

The devil robot turned to face Monodramon, slashing it across the chest as Neil turned to face it, Agumon completely stopped in its tracks as the boy's eyes widened, Neil shouting, "OH, COME ON, NOW YOU'RE NOT GONNA HELP!"

"Dammit!" Midori groaned, seeing Agumon just standing there as she grunted, "Typical of a man!"

Kotaha, meanwhile, was also trying to find the building as she felt rather frustrated to have this happen a second time today. She was hoping for at least a break before having to use Lalamon.

Seeing Kotaha standing there, Midori knew the girl couldn't possibly get to her mech in time as she turned to Mato and shouted, "Hey! It seems to be just the two of us! Let's gang up on this thing and take it down!"

Mato nodded and gave an army salute before V-mon placed Neku atop his head for safety, the robot then spinning its arms around like windmill blades and punching the devil robot hard in the arm, making the opening in the shoulder bigger.

"CRACKLING BITE!" Monodramon spat, biting hard into the devil's shoulder, the entire arm falling off as the woman inside gritted her teeth shouting, "YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE END OF THIS!" snapping the fingers of the arm still attached as the ones piloting the Vilemon retreated along with her.

And so this threat had been averted, but now the group knew there'd be more to come. Either way, things had gotten complicated. Now they had to explain everything to Neku, but could they trust him to keep this secret?


	3. Chapter 3

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Thanks for the combined efforts of Mato and Midori, the threat of the Devimon mech had been defeated. However, this peace couldn't possibly last, but for now, things were at least nice again.

Midori opened up Monodramon as she sighed, "Well, it's over," then smiled at Kohata asking, "Want a ride home?"

Before Kotaha could reply, something strange happened as Agumon opened up, literally shooting Neil out of its chest as he flew outward, his head wedged between Mato's boobs when she opened up her mech, Agumon taking off back to the base on its own.

As was expected, Mato freaked out, prying Neil's head off of her chest before kicking him hard in the face. No matter how many times this happened, Mato just couldn't get used to it.

"Oh, come on!" Neil spat, rubbing his now-bleeding nose, "You saw what my mech did back there," then blinked, scratching his head asking, "Why did Agumon do that?"

Mato folded her arms and pouted in response to Neil's argument as Neku scratched his head saying, "Seriously, I really want an explanation here."

"Okay, um... random new person," Midori said, "I'm willing to let you in the details, but note a couple of things. It's a long story, and we'd rather no one tell of it since it could cause panic. Go back to our new work place with Mato and you'll learn everything there."

"My name's Neku," the boy replied with a light scowl before sighing, "I promise I won't tell," then thinking briefly, he added, "Do you guys have a leader?"

"Well, we do have our boss, Miss Yomaki," Neil replied, shrugging as Midori patted the side of her seat saying, "Last offer, Kotaha. Would you like a lift home?" Kotaha smiling sweetly and saying, "Sure, Midori-San. You're the best."

Remembering that Neku was also there, Neil looked down and sighed, "Great time for my mech to bail on me."

Midori closed the door and said, "I can't wait to see your Lalamon in battle," taking off on Monodramon as Neil looked at Neku, realizing that he relied on Mato too much for his personal needs, saying, "You can go with Mato if you want. I'm okay taking a bus home."

Of course, a part of this comment stemmed from a slight jealousy Neil currently felt towards Neku. He was starting to get this strange vibe that Mato might have had feelings for him. But at the same time, he didn't want to make his envy obvious otherwise he really wouldn't stand a chance with Mato.

Of course, Mato and Neku merely accepted his offer, not questioning it at all as Neil waited for the next bus heading home. Neku simply hopped into V-mon as the dragon-like mech ran toward the base as opposed to flying.

After a while, Kotaha was dropped off as Midori waved goodbye, taking off. Kotaha waved back before entering her house, greeted by a young buff man's lips. This was her fiance, Luchi.

Neil ended up taking the bus home with a sigh. He still felt a twinge of jealousy right now. What did Neku have that he didn't? Oh, of course, he did have just about everything. He had a better outward appearance, a more calm nature to him, was much less dependent on others and wasn't a klutz. But there was one thing he didn't have that Neil had as a means of one-upping him: Neku didn't work with Mato every single day.

During this, Alejandro was merely walking home on his own. He'd missed out on all the action and had no one to go home to. Perhaps starting his new job would help that.

Meanwhile, in a base far just miles away from the city, the red-headed woman bowed down to a tall 40-year-old man with grey hair and a bald spot in the middle who let out a sigh and said, "Oh, Morrigan, you disappoint me. I gave you Devimon because I thought it would help you, but it seems I was wrong."

"No..." Morrigan groaned as the man sighed, "Don't worry, you've always been one of my most trusted allies. I will give you another chance, but you're going to need some help."

Seeing a young man with green hair, squinted eyes and a fancy suit enter the room, Morrigan scowled as the man smirked, saying, "Oh, someone's feisty."

As Alejandro walked the streets, Midori's mech headed right by him, the girl doing her best to avoid having anyone see Monodramon. Alejandro saw the mech coming and freaked out, Midori rolling her eyes and saying, "Baby," passing right by him.

"You get back here, then we'll find out who the baby is!" Alejandro retorted as Midori sighed and remarked, "YOU'D BETTER PULL YOUR WEIGHT AT WORK TOMORROW! WE MAY BE HEROES, BUT WE'RE ALSO EVENT SETTERS!"

Meanwhile, Mato and Neku returned to the work place, getting out of the mech in the secret area as Yomaki was there examining the mechs, Mato waving and saying, "Ano, Yomaki-San, another found out about our secret," Neku waving with a nervous smile.

Yomaki sighed, pinching her forehead as she groaned, "Well, hopefully you don't go blabbing to everyone in town."

She then remembered something and said, "Say, I saw Agumon burst in here without Neil. Do you know what that was about?"

Mato giggled nervously, letting down a sweat drop as Neku said nonchalantly, "That robot thing shot him out of its cockpit," Yomaki sighing, "Oh boy," slapping her forehead, "I knew Neil wouldn't be completely ready for this task, but this is really bad."

"Wait, so they mechs act on their own free will?" Neku asked as Yomaki replied, "Well, they shouldn't, but to an extent, they do have minds of their own and react to their masters' behaviour. See, Agumon was built for a strong-willed pilot, so the fact that it chose Neil might not have been a good thing."

Mato nodded and said, "Well, Neil-Chan does claim to be weak-willed," Neku looking at a green worm-like mech and asking, "Is this one of them?"

"Oh, this one's a defect," Yomaki sighed, "I hauled it out of the back room as a decoration because I assumed it would be useless otherwise."

However, her words were immediately proven wrong as the worm's mouth opened up, its eyes glowing as if to invite Neku into it, Yomaki's eyes going wide.

Neku's eyes went wide with curiosity as he entered and read a message saying, "Rookie Battle Mech: Model Wormmon."

Yomaki grinned and said, "Well, it's good to know. From this day forth, you're working for us."

Neku shrugged and replied, "Fine by me," Mato then asking, "Come to think of it, did Neil already get home? He did take the bus," Neku shrugging again and replying, "Beats me."

All in all, the day had been eventful. Unbeknownst to the others, though, the enemy had planned out a counterattack and it would be unleashed soon enough after a long night's sleep.

The next day, Neil awoke. Mato had actually promised to pick him up for work this morning, so he waited patiently for the woman.

During this time, Alejandro had gotten up and headed to work before his shift even started just so he could polish Pawnchessmon. Neku was in a taxi all the while headed to the building. This would certainly be interesting.

As Mato pulled up to Neil's house, the boy smiled and said, "Good morning, Mato," as he hopped in, adding, "That sure is something seeing Neku again after so long, eh?"

Mato nodded happily and replied, "Yeah, and he's going to fight alongside us too," Neil asking, "I'm still your best friend though, right?" Mato giggling and replying, "Of course, silly. Why would I forget you?"

'Don't let her know you're jealous, you hormonal fool,' Neil thought to himself as he grinned and shrugged.

As the two pulled up to the building, Mato stepped on the gas rather hard, causing Neil's face to bump into the window squealing, "Come on, let's go!" Neil wiping his face as the two entered.

Midori drove by Kotaha's house and worked her motor a couple of times, signalling the blond woman to come out. Kotaha gave her fiance a nice, happy goodbye while also worried about what he might think if he knew what she was doing.

During this time, Alejandro was doing pull-ups on Pawnchessmon's arm with his shirt off. Yomaki blinked and grinned saying, "Well, you're determined. That's always a good thing," then looked closer and said, "Nice abs," before exiting the room.

Soon, all of them were at the building. The minute the other women at the workplace saw Neku, hearts filled their eyes as some approached him asking for his name and a whole bunch of other stuff. Neku simply listened to music, tuning them out as Mato giggled. Neku always seemed to be the popular one wherever he went.

Staring at this, Neil's jaw dropped as Yomaki entered, saying, "Hey, you, Lisa, Mary, Janette, aw hell, all of you, back to your stations! We need a dance floor in hall E! Get to the third floor now!"

Mato saw Neil's look and grinned deviously, asking, "Is Neil-Chan jealous of Neku-Chan's charms?"

"O-of course not," Neil said, blushing as Yomaki pointed at Kotaha saying, "You're coming with me. I'll show you to the kitchen right now. Don't worry, your work will be much easier," then turned to Neil and Mato saying, "I want you two in salon 16. We need a couple of water stations there."

"Wait, we need to get the water first," Neil remarked as Yomaki blinked and said, "Oh yeah, right. Uh... fill up two cambros... you'll also need at least 160 water glasses."*

Mato blinked and asked, "Wait, how do you do this again? I'm not used to making water stations."

"We've done this before," Neil said with a sigh, "Remember? You fill up the cambros and spread out the glasses on the table in the room that needs it. Now let's head to the water room and starting filling up a couple of cambros."

For once, Neil was the one calling the shots and helping out and he didn't even realize it as the two entered the hallway, picking up a few glass racks, each one containing 25 glasses and loading them onto a silver cart. Then the two entered the water room, picking up a pair of water cambros as Neil poured the water into one, Mato filling the other, the two loading the cambros onto the cart.

Yomaki showed Kotaha to a kitchen where many others were working. This was to be her work station.

"Now, remember," Yomaki said with a smile, "just make what everyone else is making. It's not a tough task, but it is a little demanding. You not only have to cook for banquets, you also have to cook for the staff."

After about an hour of work, Neil, Midori, Mato and Kotaha were resting in Yomaki's office waiting for her to return to give them orders. It was routine for them. If they had nothing to do, they had to wait.

At that moment, Yomaki opened the door and turned to the group saying, "Mato, there's some table cloth that needs to be cleaned in Hall D. Just take that downstairs to the laundry hamper," then turning to the others, she said, "You three can help set up salon 11. It needs already-clean tablecloth. You can find the supplies in the storage area. Neil, you know where that is, help Midori and Kotaha."

Midori sighed, shrugging and decided for once to accept help from a man. After all, she had no clue where the storage area was, so this would be a good experience for her.

Soon enough, Neil had directed Midori and Kotaha to the room as Neil said, "The good tablecloth is right here at the end," as Midori said, "You're certainly knowledgeable for a perv."

However, just as the three were about to pick up the tablecloth, the lights suddenly went out as all 3 were surrounded by pitch-black darkness. "What the hell just happened?" Midori asked as Neil groaned, "Yomaki must have forgotten to pay for everything in this year's electric bill." The worst part was that no one could find the door.

"Hold on, nobody panic," Neil said, breathing, "There's a bag with a flashlight in here in case of such an emergency. Feel around for it."

"Perhaps I misjudged you," Midori said, "You're actually helpful."

As the group felt around, Neil touched what felt like the top of a bag. With that, the boy started to lower the material, the entire thing coming open. Strange: it didn't really open like a bag normally would, but Neil was certain he was right about this as he reached his hand forward to feel around the bag's contents. He was rather surprised to feel a soft yet familiar object against his hands, squeezing it to see if he could figure out what it was.

Suddenly, the lights came on as Midori stood next to the light switch saying, "It just wasn't pushed all the way up when you turned it... on?"

Both her and Neil's eyes widened when they saw that the bag was really Kohata's pants and rather than opening a bag, Neil had lowered them. The soft object Neil had felt and squeezed was Kohata's now-exposed butt.

Mato entered with the tablecloths from Hall D, her eyes going wide as she spat, "NEIL-CHAN!" Neil panicking and shouting, "IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!"

As Neil trembled with fear, Midori marched over to the boy grunting, "So, copping a feel while the power's out, are you!" as Neil spat, "NO, WAIT, I REALLY THOUGHT HER PANTS WERE THE BAG!"

Midori refused to listen as she approached him, raising her fists and ramming it hard into his face, sending him flying into the wall as she sighed, "Don't you know Kotaha's already got a boyfriend?"

Kotaha then looked at him, pulling up her pants and sighing, "Neil, you're truly an unlucky charm. If my fiance saw that, he'd kick your ass."

Neil let down tears as he groaned, "Why did I have to undergo this curse?" as Midori rolled her eyes, saying, "Leave it to a man to blame his own perverted tendencies on a curse."

Kotaha smiled sweetly, patting the boy on the shoulder and saying, "Don't worry about it. Yomaki might think you're a baby."

"Well, she has insulted employees before," Neil replied, snickering a bit as he said, "I guess life is funny that way. You never know what's gonna happen."

Then letting out a sigh, the boy said, "Now I can honestly say Mato hitting me is a treat compared to Midori doing it."

Alejandro then entered the room, rubbing his eye as the others stared, Mato asking, "What happened, Alex?" Alejandro groaning, "It's Alejandro and let me tell you, some of the stuff you guys work with here is really dangerous."

After another little while, a sound could be heard from outside, many people in panic as the Devimon robot and a red stag beetle robot called Kuwagamon were wrecking havoc, Morrigan shouting, "This time, I'm going to kill those kids!" as the guy in the Kuwagamon model, Jason, rolled his eyes and sighed, "If you couldn't last time, how can you this time?"

Suddenly, an alarm went off throughout the building as Mato squeaked, "What's going on!" Neku looking up from his own work with curiosity.

"GET TO WORK!" Yomaki spat as the group headed toward the room with the mechs. Sure, it took them about 5 minutes to get all the way there, but they still did it.

As Neil approached Agumon, the dragon didn't even bother to open up as the boy stared in shock. He then proceeded to ram his fist into the thing's chest shouting, "OPEN!" as Yomaki sighed, shook her head and said, "Sorry, Neil, but you're not brave or strong enough to pilot Agumon. You'll have to sit this one out."

Neil had never felt so insulted in all his life. He wanted to help out but he couldn't because Agumon was a self-centered brat?

Mato let down a sweat drop and said, "Gomenee, Neil-Chan," entering V-mon as Neku added, "You can observe us if you like," hopping into Wormmon and taking off along with Kotaha and Lalamon and Alejandro and Pawnchessmon.

Midori looked at Neil, saying, "Come on, let it go," then took off as Neil slumped down on his knees, a helpless expression on his face.

With that, the rest of them entered the area, Devimon facing them as Morrigan grinned wickedly saying, "There's my little targets!" Jason saying, "You were beaten by a bunch of rookies. I find this mildly amusing," Morrigan scowling at him.

Mato and Neku seemed more than confident as V-mon headed toward Devimon with its head lowered, Wormmon shouting, "NEBA NEBA NET!" firing a string of sticky silk toward the Kuwagamon.

Kuwagamon easily cut open the net with its jaws as the Devimon knocked V-mon to the side. So far, this wasn't looking so good.

Luckily, Midori had arrived, aiming her drills at the Devimon as the Kuwagamon turned toward Monodramon, grabbing her with its jaws as Morrigan fumed and spat, "Hey, I could have dealt with her myself!" Jason shaking his head and sighing, "Of course you could have," hurling the dragon into the side of a building.

Seeing this, Alejandro panicked as he pressed a button, Pawnchessmon shouting, "PAWN BOMB!" the knight's lance opening up and releasing a bomb from a hole where the spear head normally went.

The bomb hit Kuwagamon head-on as the beetle backed up, Vilemon models sending shock waves at Pawnchessmon as Jason said, "Not even a dent... pathetic."

Alejandro noticed a red alert on the knight's visor as he spat, "No, don't shut down!" Kotaha having her Lalamon shoot seeds from her mouth, the flower mech shouting, "SEED CANNON!" the seeds exploding upon hitting Kuwagamon but also not doing much.

Yomaki simply stood in the vault, looking at Neil with concern as her cellphone rang, the woman saying, "Hey, Midori, how's it going?"

"Yeah, we got a huge problem here," the girl groaned, narrowly dodging a few strikes as she added, "Apparently, they got another one of those big, powerful mechs. I figured our numbers would give us a huge edge over them, but that doesn't seem to be the case. They're overpowering us pretty badly."

Yomaki's cellphone was always stuck on speaker, so Neil heard these words, a look of anger coming over his face as he rammed his fist hard into Agumon shouting, "FINE! IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA WORK, THEN I'LL JUST BORROW A PIPE OR SOMETHING AND BASH THEIR HEADS IN!"

Upon hearing these exact words, Agumon's eyes lit up as the dinosaur opened itself up, Neil staring. Well, this was a lot more convenient, so he made his way into the mech as Yomaki smiled and said, "Now that's more like it."

Meanwhile, Lalamon fired more seeds at Devimon as a group of Vilemon mechs took in the seed bullets for Devimon, taking in damage as a few exploded, the pilots escaping with jet packs as Devimon picked up the Lalamon and looked closely at it, Morrigan laughing and shouting, "Really! You thought you could beat me with a flower! That's pitiful!"

Lalamon attempted spraying it with some kind of acid shouting, "DIZZY SPRAY!"

Devimon's eyes started to spin as his circuitry started to steam a little, the robot's eyes now blinded as Morrigan gritted her teeth, cursing, "Damn!"

However, despite Lalamon escaping, Kotaha had forgotten that Jason was still there as he dove in with his Kuwagamon, ready to strike when a fireball hit him on the side of the head, Jason's eye twitching as he turned to the source, sighing with relief when he said, "Oh, it's just an Agumon," as Neil said, "Sorry I'm late, guys. I got held up."

The others breathed a sigh of relief, even Midori rather happy to see Neil in the battle as Alejandro rewired Pawnchessmon saying, "We're back in action!"

Now things were truly looking up, but would this be enough?

Note: *A cambro is a type of water dispenser


	4. Chapter 4

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

With Neil and Agumon fighting by everyone's side, things really seemed to be looking up, but just how long would this advantage last? After all, this was only a slight improvement from before.

"Do you morons really think your pathetic rookie level models can defeat our Champion models?" Jason asked as Midori replied, "So that's why your models are so much stronger. I figured there had to be a reason why our models had a specific classification."

"That's not important," Morrigan remarked, regaining focus as she said, "The fact is we've finally overpowered you. There might be more of you, but you're all weaklings compared to us."

"WELL THEN PROVE IT!" Neil spat, doing something surprisingly rash for him as he soared toward Devimon only to be thwacked to the side, hitting a wall as he said, "Well, I'm convinced," Agumon sliding down the wall.

The others looked at Neil with concern before rushing into battle again. However, Neil was starting to feel helpless again.

'Dammit!' the man thought, gritting his teeth, 'How can this be? I finally man up and gain control of Agumon and still we're losing! I wish there was something I could do, but they really are too powerful for us!'

This thought was proven as Monodramon had been slammed into the ground, Lalamon pierced by Devimon's claws, the claws barely missing Kotaha, but since they hadn't gone all the way through Lalamon, the flower was still running. V-mon was being dodged frequently by the Vilemon, soon rammed into the ground by one's feet as Pawnchessmon was easily overwhelmed. Even Wormmon was in Kuwagamon's clutches about to be cut in half by its pincers.

At that moment, Neil let out a loud battle cry, Agumon roaring into the sky as its body started to open up. Soon, its body turned inside-out, the outer coating now a darker shade of orange as its claws expanded in size. A slit opened up in the back of Agumon's head as a dinosaur skull protruded out, flipping onto the dinosaur's head and acting as a helmet. Finally, Agumon expanded in size as horns lashed out from two holes that appeared in its head, the dinosaur roaring as a message came up, Neil reading aloud, "Champion Mech: Model Greymon."

Everyone stared in shock, Morrigan asking, "You mean they can actually transform into champion mechs?"

The others stared in absolute shock and amazement, Mato squealing, "That's so cool!" Kotaha nodding in agreement as Neku whistled, "Impressive..." Alejandro saying, "It's magnifico..." Midori adding, "Not bad for a guy."

"NOVA BLAST!" the dragon shouted, unleashing a flame from an expanded mouth cannon as the Kuwagamon model was hit, its head blowing up in an instant as Jason was now exposed, the man shouting, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" flying off into the distance as Morrigan sighed, "Well, at least now I can prove myself," sending her claws toward Greymon only for the dinosaur to grab the incoming hand by the wrist and pulling it off. Morrigan didn't let up as she sent another jab only for Greymon to lower its horns, ramming them into Devimon's hand and blowing that one up as well.

"DAMMIT!" Morrigan cursed, flying away as Greymon landed, letting out a loud roar before reverting back to Agumon.

Mato squealed with excitement and exclaimed, "THAT WAS SO COOL, NEIL-CHAN! HOW'D YOU DO IT!" Neku saying, "It is quite surprising for you of all people to pull that off when no one else could."

Alejandro opened up Pawnchessmon's cockpit and held out his fist adding, "Nice on, bro!"

"I have no idea what happened," Neil said, blinking.

Soon enough, the group headed back to the building, storing their mechs away as Midori let out a disappointed sigh.

"So..." Yomaki said after hearing the report, "Agumon transformed, did he?"

"Yeah," Neil said, "but how did he do it?"

"Must have been your spirit," Yomaki said with a grin, "You wanted so badly to protect your friends that you awakened its inner hero."

Kotaha nodded and said sweetly, "He did it just when we needed him the most."

"Yeah..." the boy said, rubbing the back of his head as he added, "I was a true hero back there, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah," Midori groaned, folding her arms then smiling and saying, "Good job, lecher," as Neil narrowed his eyelids thinking, 'Saw that coming a mile away.'

Neku then tapped Yomaki on the shoulder and asked, "So, what was that transformation thing he did?"

"It's called digivolution," Yomaki replied, "Don't really know why. Guess it just sounded cool to the creators or something. Either way, I believe all of your mechs can do it too. But like with Agumon, certain requirements must be met for it to work. Speaking of work..."

Soon enough, everyone was put back to work now forced to clean up a room that had become messy after a group of people had a meeting in it. Kotaha of course was back in the kitchen and not helping them with this.

"I expect this from a kid, not a group of adults," Neil groaned as he stepped on a paper cup, slipping and flying toward Midori who kicked the boy hard in the face shouting, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" Neil flying into the wall.

Neku walked over and asked, "You okay, bud?" helping him up as Mato looked at Midori with worry and stated, "You know that was an accident, right?"

Neil dared not question the irony of Mato of all people saying that as he smiled saying, "Thanks," as Midori growled, "He's a guy. Guys make that sort of stuff look accidental," then shot a glance at Alejandro saying, "Like him."

Alejandro scowled in response to this. Why did such an attractive girl hate him so much?

Meanwhile, Kotaha had made friends with a few of the banquet workers as one, a girl by the name of Melissa, asked, "So, how many children are you planning to have after you get married?"

Kotaha blushed with a light smile and replied, "Well, I was hoping to have twins, a baby boy and a baby girl, but I'm happy with any kind of baby. I love children."

"Well, good for you," Melissa replied as she chuckled, "My little Meli is just cute as a button. I can see her growing up to do great things," Kotaha giggling, "I'd love to meet her."

Kotaha's supervisor, Jessica, came into the kitchen and said, "Alright, guys, lunch is coming up. We need a big order of roast beef, mashed potatoes, broccoli and some black forest cake for dessert."

Kotaha gave an army salute before getting right on it. While Kotaha cooked, a man by the name of Richard smiled and said, "You seem to have had a lot of experience with this. Your fiance is certainly lucky to have you."

Kotaha blushed again before replying, "I feel luckier to have him. He's the light of my life."

While Alejandro was cleaning, he slipped on something and landed against Midori, his lips meeting her cheek as he stared in shock. Midori fumed, a vein forming as she landed a hard punch to Alejandro's head, Neil staring with shock and thinking, 'Wow... it wasn't me this time...' Alejandro landing on the ground, grinning with satisfaction and thinking, 'Totally worth it.'

After another hour of work, it was finally time for lunch. The group sat in the cafeteria with the lunch they had gotten from the kitchen as Neil took a bite, his eyes sparkling as he said, "It's like heaven... for once."

Yomaki took a bite of her food and said, "Hey, it's actually good today," as Midori asked, "You mean it's not usually this good?"

"Well, lunch here is usually rushed," Neil replied as he asked, "Seriously, who made this masterpiece?"

Kotaha soon joined the group for lunch and said, "I hope you like it. It was fun making it."

"You mean you made this?" Neil asked, his eyes sparkling as Midori gave Kotaha an embrace saying, "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" Yomaki saying, "Remind me to give you a raise."

Mato took a few bites and squealed, "So yummy!" Neku nodding and adding, "Yeah, it's good."

Neil finished off his lunch quickly as he said, "Seriously, Kotaha, you are the best thing that's ever happened to the banquet staff."

"That sounded awkward," Midori said with a shrug, "but it's true."

After lunch, it was back to work and after a few hours of working, it was time for the group to head on home.

"Seeya tomorrow," Midori said to Kotaha and Mato with a smile, Neil blinking with a pathetic look in his eyes as the girl rolled her eyes and added, "I guess I'll be seeing you BOYS tomorrow too."

Neil then looked at Neku then at Mato wondering if Mato would be driving Neku home again, leaving Neil to fend for himself. However, this thought changed with Mato offered to drive both home.

Neil couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had to share a ride with the girl of his dreams with another guy! Well, he dared not make a scene, so he reluctantly accepted this, but quickly claimed the front seat next to Mato.

During the drive, Neil had an envious look on his face. He didn't feel like having smalltalk with Mato like he usually did. It just felt so much nicer when the two of them were alone together. With Neku there, Neil found it awkward to even try.

All was quiet in the car. Neil turned to look at Mato with a smile then looked at Neku with a weaker smile, then looking forward with a neutral look on his face. He was acting childish and he knew it, but he couldn't help it.

Neku remained silent as Mato sighed, "Aw, come on, guys! I don't like momentary silence with my friends! I feel like we're drifting away from each other!"

Alejandro was walking home at this time when a girl walked over to him, blushing and ripping off a chunk of his hair, Alejandro letting down a tear while barking, "HEY, THAT'S MY HAIR!" the girl skipping off squealing, "I GOT SOME OF LATIN MODEL ALEJANDRO'S HAIR!"

Mato noticed him while driving by and asked, "Hey, isn't that Al?"

With that, the woman stopped the car and asked, "You okay, Al?" Neku asking, "Why'd that girl rip your hair out?" Alejandro sighing, "Thus is the troubled life of a now ex-model."

Mato offered the man a ride but he politely refused, preferring to walk home despite what had just happened. Either way, all three passengers were still weirded out by this.

Later, when Neku was dropped off, Neil let out a sigh and said, "I'm sorry, Mato. I should be happy that our friend has reunited with us and yet the fact that I had to share a Mato ride with him, even giving up one to him yesterday makes me feel a tad..."

He froze, knowing the next word was going to be 'jealous'. He'd walked into that.

"Aw, come on, Neil-Chan," Mato cooed, "Say it."

"Well, it made me feel jealous," Neil said with a sigh, adding, "I wish I knew why."

Mato was sure she knew the reason but didn't seem to want to admit it, simply pursing her lips together, shrugging her shoulders. With that, she dropped Neil off at his house and waved goodbye, Neil also waving to the girl of his dreams and lowering his head, sighing.

The following day, as Neil was about to head out to be picked up by Mato, he noticed a note below his doorstop. The boy blinked and picked it up, seeing it was addressed to him and opened it up, his eyes going wide as his jaw dropped, the boy's eye twitching. Ironically, this was exactly when Mato showed up.

"Hey, Neil-Chan," Mato greeted, "What is that, a love letter?"

Walking into the vehicle and sitting next to the girl, he simply stood there silent uttering, "How did they know where I live?"

"Who's it from?" Mato asked as Neil was in too much shock to answer right now, the two soon arriving. Kotaha also arrived shortly after, dropped off by Luchi, the tough man waving to her before heading off.

As Kotaha arrived, Midori also pulled up and waved at the woman, then stared at Neil and blinked asking, "What's up with him?"

Kotaha shrugged and replied, "Don't know. He's probably tired or troubled this morning."

As the group entered the building, Yomaki was there taking attendance as usual when she saw the look on Neil's face asking, "Gee, I'm not that big a slave driver, am I?" the boy handing the woman the note he'd received that morning.

Yomaki blinked, a grin coming over her face as she said, "Well, look at Mister Popular being all modest."

Alejandro quickly entered exclaiming, "I'm sorry I'm late!" worried his missing hunk of hair would be noticed. Luckily for him, though, Yomaki was too distracted by the letter to care.

Alejandro breathed a sigh of relief while the others, on the other hand, were very interested to know exactly what the letter said. What could cause Neil so much panic?

"What does it say?" Kotaha asked as Yomaki turned to the woman and cleared her throat, reading aloud the following:

"Dear Mister Neil, to answer your first question, yes, I am the leader of the army that has been attacking your home recently. But that's not the point. The fact is that your mech is able to transform. That makes you the biggest threat of all. Well, mark my words, I will see to it that you get what's coming to you. I've called off all other attacks until further notice. Just meet me outside of the city after dark where we will engage in a duel to the death. Sincerely, Aku."

Kotaha quivered in fear. How could anyone say something like that about Neil? The others were, of course, equally shocked. How could such a wimp get this much attention from the leader of all people?

As Neil sat in a corner, trembling, Midori walked over to the boy, let out a sigh and patted him on the shoulder. Neil's eyes widened as the girl said, "Look, I don't normally care about guys, but this is really serious. However, considering what this guy said, obviously his mech isn't able to transform. We'll be there to cheer you on. Just kick his butt. If you win this battle, you'll be killing the leader. That in itself would be awesome."

"You're right," Neil said with a chuckle, "It would be, wouldn't it?"

Kotaha looked at both with surprise. Was Midori really helping Neil out right now? After all, she did hate boys.

Mato also joined in, patting Neil on the shoulder and saying, "Aw, come on, Neil-Chan. We saw what you're capable of. You're strong."

Despite the boost in confidence, Neil was still a little down for a couple of hours. However, after that time, the boy had pretty much forgotten about the letter and was more focused on his work when the first break came up, Yomaki approaching everyone and saying, "Well, guys, I have good news. After a little tweaking, I finally successfully installed shower rooms for when you get too sweaty or smelly for your own good. That means that along with your usual breaks, you'll get a 10 minute shower break as well. I encourage you all to try them out now."

Crickets chirped as she narrowed her eyes, saying, "That's an order," pointing in the direction of the exit to the break room.

Mato shrugged and said, "No choice, huh? Well, I'll go first!" walking toward the break room before turning to the boy and winking while saying, "No peeping!" Neku remarking, "Who'd wanna?" Alejandro whistling innocently as Midori glared at him.

"Actually, everyone has to go in at once," Yomaki remarked, "hence why there's a stall for everyone. And besides, you think I'm really stupid enough not to make a men's AND women's area?"

Soon enough, everyone was having their shower except for Neil who turned to Yomaki, who was also headed to her own shower room and said, "There must be a mistake. All the stalls are taken."

"Huh, guess the crew didn't finish the last one yet," Yomaki replied, placing her finger against her chin, "Well, there is an extra in the girl's room, but you'd better sneak in. The others should be distracted with their own showers right now."

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Neil stealthily made his way into the women's shower room, quickly tossing his clothes to the side and making his way into a stall, completely undetected and started running water. He couldn't believe it: He hadn't been caught.

Midori soaked herself in water next to Mato's stall and asked, "So, Mato, anything big happening in your life?"

"Well, aside from this mech business, not really," Mato replied.

Neil remained silent, simply washing, the sound of water blending in with everyone else's as he listened in on the convo.

"I notice you and that perv, Neil, seem to have a strong bond with each other," Midori said, "I must say, you have a lot of patience to deal with him."

Mato giggled and replied, "Aw, Neil's not a perv. He's just clumsy, that's all. You know, when we were younger, Neil often got picked on by bullies, so I protected him."

"Is that so?" Midori replied with a chuckle, "I'm a little worried about him, actually."

Neil's eyes widened when she said this, the woman continuing, "He really doesn't have much confidence in himself and that victory yesterday seemed like more of a fluke than anything. I only hope he can actually win this battle."

Mato smiled sweetly and said, "Well, all we can do is pray."

Midori let out a sigh and shook her head as Neil's fear started to return. The woman then started to scrub her hair and asked, "What do you think, guys?"

"Neil's always been a coward," one girl, Weiling, replied as another, Jasmine said, "Not to mention weak."

Neil's eyes went wider, his jaw dropped as if he'd never heard this stuff before, which he totally had, Midori waiting for Kotaha's thoughts, Melissa saying, "It should be me piloting Agumon, not someone like Neil."

"Aw, come on, guys!" Mato remarked, "Neil's just never done anything this exhilarating before!"

Kotaha smiled and said, "I guess Neil is kind of cursed. But I sometimes wonder if it's truly an accident. I happens so often I think it might be an act," Mato remarking, "That's not even what we're talking about," a blush coming over her.

"Well, he's a guy," Midori replied, "Guys tend to like doing that sort of thing," as Neil gritted his teeth, a vein forming. One would think he would be used to this sort of thing, but after years of dealing with it, he was tired of it. What did he need to reverse it?

"Despite that, he's not bad for a guy," Midori added, Neil's eyes perking open as the woman added, "He may be perverted, but he's also pretty helpful and nice, unlike most of the guys here. I think he would make a good husband if not for that one trait."

The boy couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was that semi-praise... from Midori?

Kotaha giggled and replied, "Looks like you got a keen eye on him."

"Don't get the wrong idea," Midori sighed, "I intend to remain single my whole life unless I end up being a lesbian. No matter how positively I think of a man, I would never spend my life with one."

Strangely enough, this didn't get to Neil too much. At least she wasn't just singling him out.

Kotaha shrugged and replied, "Well, the way I see it, Neku will be taken in a flash and Alejandro has too many fans. Either you or Mato will end up with him."

"Don't count on it," Midori replied as Melissa said, "Well, to be fair, you are right about Neil, Midori. One time, I dropped an entire plate and Neil helped me pick it up before Yomaki could see my mistake. No one else bothered to help."

"I used to be insecure about my chest size," Jasmine added, "Neil assured me that it was nothing to be ashamed of and it wasn't my fault."

"He actually helped hook me up with Yoshigai," Weiling stated, "Now we're happily married."

After a couple more minutes, the girls realized it was time to get back to their stations for their orders as they started exiting the shower. Neil had a big smile on his face as he thought, 'I can't believe they actually remembered all of that. They do appreciate me.'

Soon enough, almost everyone had cleared out as Midori put on her clothes saying, "You'd better hurry up and clean that hair, Mato. You don't have much break time left," and exited along with the others.

Unfortunately, Neil was too distracted by the sound of everyone leaving to hear that last part as he assumed the girls were all cleared out, exiting his shower stall and drying himself off. Just as he was about to put his clothes on, he noticed one last stall opening up, his eyes going wide.

Upon exiting the stall, Mato dried her eyes as she blinked, noticing Neil standing there before screaming, "IYAAAAAAAH, PERVERT!" kicking him hard in the face.

As Neil and Mato exited together, all the other girls gone and unable to know of Neil's act, the boy said, "Sorry, Yomaki told me to go into the women's shower room. I had no choice in the matter."

Mato folded her arm, scowling before putting on a smile and saying, "Hah, okay, I'll accept that as an excuse," patting Neil's head when suddenly, one of the boys named Beat said, "Hey, Yomaki, I think Agumon has some kind of bug or something."


	5. Chapter 5

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Neil's eyes went wide at the sound of Beat mentioning a problem with Agumon as Yomaki said, "Neil, you'd better come," then added, "Seems you got caught in the act. I told you to be careful."

Neil narrowed his eyelids as if to say 'You' then shrugged as the two headed to the storage area. However, when the two got there, it seemed Beat was merely freaking out over a spider in the mech's circuitry.

Pulling out the spider, Yomaki said, "It's not too big a deal, just a dead spider."

"I came all this way for that..." Neil groaned as Agumon's eyes came on, the boy blinking as the mech lifted up its hand, giving Neil thumbs up.

"I guess it feels ready for the duel later," Midori said.

After another hour or so of work, it was time for lunch as Neil took a big bite out of his meal, Midori blinking and saying, "Wow, you're energetic."

"Well, I need to be strong and well-fed for tonight, right?" the boy replied, "I'm not backing down from this. If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get."

Hearing this, the others started whispering amongst themselves. Were these words really coming from Neil?

Mato beamed and patted Neil's shoulder stating, "That's the spirit!" Neku giving Neil a mere thumbs up of support.

Soon enough, the shift was over as Agumon, carrying Neil, walked to the outskirts of town, the others there to give the boy support. Neil's knees started trembling as he sighed, "Goddammit."

However, the others were confident in him as Alejandro gave Neil thumbs up exclaiming, "Good luck bro! Kick his ass!" Mato pulling out a pair of pom-poms while shouting, "Gambare, Neil-Chan!" Kotaha smiling sweetly and saying, "Good luck."

At that moment, a huge mech emerged from the distance as Neil's eyes went wide, his heart beating. From the distance came a large mishmash of robots with 5 arms, each different from the other, a pair of wings, a skull helmet and a pair of white feet with blue stripes.

Everyone stared in total shock. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Whatever this mech was, it was huge. In fact, it had to have been at least five times bigger than Agumon.

Even Midori felt scared at the sight of it as the man piloting it smiled and said, "Hello, I'm Aku. I assume you are Neil."

The boy gulped and uttered, "Y-y-y-y-yep..." as the man replied, "Good to see you got my letter. This mech is Chimairamon. It's a combination of various other mechs."

Neil trembled at the sight of this monstrosity, terrified out of his mind while Aku explained, "As you know, I challenged you because of your mech's ability to transform, thus I refuse to attack until Agumon does so."

Neil shook his head and thought, 'That thing might look scary, but I'm sure I can take it.'

With that, Agumon formed into Greymon, letting out a loud battle roar. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as it looked.

However, the others got a little distracted, wondering what their mechs would look like after transforming. Those thoughts soon ended as the current situation was too serious for them to dwell on trivial matters like that.

Aku smiled and said, "Alright, just to show what a good sport I am, I'll let you have the first shot," as Neil uttered, "B-big mistake, buddy!" Greymon releasing his Nova Blast, hitting the mech hard.

As the smoke cleared, Chimairamon had only taken in a small little bit of visible damage as Neil's jaw dropped, Aku saying, "Not bad considering my baby here is an Ultimate model."

Neku, Mato and Kotaha all spat, "ULTIMATE?" Beat turning and replying, "Oh, did Yomaki-San not tell you? Ultimate level mechs are the next level, stronger than Champion level mechs." The others glared at Yomaki who shrugged and let down a sweat drop.

Neil was now frightened out of his mind as the beast opened up its mouth, releasing a powerful beam. Greymon barely dodged only to be struck hard by two of its arms.

"We're screwed..." Kotaha groaned, Alejandro wrapping his arms around Midori and shouting, "Worry not, fair Chika! I will protect you!" Mato shaking her pom-poms, squealing, "GREYMON! NEIL-CHAN! GO, GO, GO!"

Midori grunted, removing Alejandro's hands as she said, "This is serious. His life is on the line here."

Greymon tried to get up only to take in another blow, Aku saying, "I have to say, I'm disappointed. I expected better."

"No!" Neil grunted as Chimairamon rose its foot, sending it towards Greymon, the boy shouting again, "NO!" Greymon lifting up its hands, stopping the incoming attack as the others stared with shock, Greymon soon overpowered anyway as one of Chimairamon's hands rammed into him, shutting the dragon mech down.

Everyone stared silently. They couldn't believe what they had just seen. Did Neil just... lose?

Mato was too scared to even react to this, her eyes stuck in the same position for a while. Alejandro started to panic, though, as he spat, "What do we do!" Kotaha turning to Yomaki and asking, "Yomaki-San?"

"The deal was a one-on-one battle," Yomaki said, shrugging, "Neil has to accept death now."

"But he's a crybaby when it comes to that kind of thing," Jasmine replied, "He can't deal with it."

And, as predicted, Neil was letting down serious waterworks as he shouted, "NO! MOVE! COME ON, WORK!"

However hard he tried, though, Greymon just wouldn't activate. It was over.

However, after a while, everyone realized that Chimairamon had no intention of moving as Aku grinned and said, "I have to admit, you have balls to try and fight back in the position you were in."

"Huh?" Neil replied, sniffing and wiping his eyes, the man adding, "I can see you becoming more of a challenge. Until then, I will spare your life."

With that, Chimairamon turned around and took off, Neil breathing a sigh of relief, Greymon still unable to move, though. However, this hardly mattered right now. Everyone was simply relieved to see him still alive.

With that, Beat, Mato, Neku, Yomaki, Midori, Alejandro and Kotaha ran toward the mech with concern. They wanted to make sure for good that Neil was okay, Beat banging on Greymon's door to open up.

As Greymon opened up, Neil groaned and looked up asking, "Mato... is that you?" then seeing Beat there, he blinked and asked, "What's a filler character doing worrying about my health?" as Midori ran over, pushing the man to the side and smiled saying, "I gotta hand it to you, Neil, you got guts."

Alejandro looked slightly ticked by this. Why did Neil get Midori's attention and not him? Would Alejandro have to almost get killed?

Kotaha, on the other hand, walked over to the mech and touched him softly, saying, "You did good, big guy."

Mato looked at Neil with tears and spat, "NEIL, YOU BAKA!" tackling him while sniffing, "We were so worried about you..." Alejandro thinking, 'Come on! A wimp like him gets girls and tears? I wanna be him!'

Neil smiled weakly and wrapped his arms around Mato, holding her tightly and saying, "I thought I was gonna die," letting down tears and crying lightly, "I don't want to die."

Kotaha looked over Greymon and said, "Seems both of them might need medical attention, but Greymon's is out of my league. Mato, does it look like Neil needs medical treatment?"

"He does seem to have some scratches," Mato replied as Kotaha nodded and replied, "Bring him inside. After all, I am a former nurse."

"No, I'm fine..." Neil said, trying to get up but falling forward, his head going between Mato's boobs. However, even Midori didn't see this as a perverted as Neil was out like a light afterwards, not even panicking, feeling aroused or anything like that.

Yomaki looked at Greymon and sighed, "Well, time to bring out the old monkey wrench. Neil's gonna have to stay home for a while, though, meaning he won't be able to join us in combat."

Mato surprisingly sported a motherly smile in response to this as she patted his head, stroking the back of it and saying, "There, there," Alejandro letting down tears and thinking, 'So lucky...' Neku staring wide-eyed.

Yomaki looked at the scene and nodded before saying, "Good, you fix him up, Kotaha. Mato, bring Neil back to his house. The others... uh... go do whatever and let us handle this," Kotaha giving an army salute and going to get her medical equipment, Mato carrying Neil to her car.

Midori let out a sigh and said, "Well, all's well that ends well," then said, "Neil's so gonna kick that guy's butt next chance he gets." Once again, she'd shockingly said something nice about Neil.

Soon enough, Neil, Kotaha and Mato were at Neil's house as the man was placed on his bed, the covers over him as he lay there, still unconscious. In his stupor, he muttered, "Mato..." Kotaha sighing, "Well, he's in good condition, but he'll need lots of rest."

The next morning, everyone had arrived at work except for Neil and Mato. Mato had stayed at Neil's house to watch over him out of concern.

Mato looked like she was about to fall asleep when she snapped herself out of it, groaning, "Mou!" pinching herself. She wasn't going to get distracted, not for a second. Neil was holding onto Mato's hand, still asleep but now smiling and at peace.

Midori let out a sigh and said, "Well, at least I still got the other girls to keep me company," as Yomaki noticed Alejandro and said, "You look like you have something on your mind."

Alejandro sighed, "Well, my boss got me some kind of modelling gig in Europe, imploring me to at least do this before permanently leaving his agency. It's, like, four days from now, but only if you'll allow it."

Yomaki let out a sigh and said, "Well, luckily for you," then leaning forward, whispered in his ear, "I'm taking the company on a surprise vacation. I'll pay for that plane ride and you can go wherever you want," then said, "Don't tell," winking at him as Alejandro nodded, a smile on his face, Neku simply polishing Wormmon and not caring about anything else right now.

There were still problems today as most people weren't as into their work as usual. Midori picked up a table as she said, "Come on, do something!" as one guy, Michael replied, "I dunno, somehow, without Neil around, I just don't feel as motivated. I don't know why. I don't even care that much for him."

Meanwhile, Kotaha was sitting by Lalamon, looking into her eyes. All the while, she wondered if the mech actually thinking. But could robots think?

Alejandro looked at Midori at work and thought hard about how he could get her attention. This just frustrated him. Neil was getting everything and a handsome stud like Alejandro was getting nothing.

After a while, everyone had lunch, however they weren't enjoying it as much as they usually would have due to Neil and Mato's absence. Neku took small, slow bites of his food, pretending it didn't get to him as well.

"You're all a bunch of babies," Midori said, taking a big bite out of a steak, Neku stating, "Oi, you'll choke on that."

Things were beyond awkward right now. Alejandro was still upset over Neil getting more attention than him, Midori was acting like she didn't care, Kotaha was trying to keep a positive spirit and Neku wasn't sure how to feel. However, the silence soon ended as the alarm went off, a large metal insect with a blue torso and a grey helmet called Kabuterimon flying through town, shooting lightning all over the place.

"Alright, no more sitting around!" Midori spat, shouting, "OFF TO BATTLE WE GO!" rushing off. The truth was that she was just as torn up as everyone else, but she also had her own priorities to keep straight.

Unfortunately, among all four mech pilots, Midori and Kotaha were the only ones with enough spirit to help, Alejandro too depressed to even care about what he was doing as Midori sighed, saying, "Don't worry, Kotaha. I'm here to help you out."

Kotaha let out a sigh and replied, "It's not so much me but Neku I'm worried about. He seems depressed and won't show it," Midori biting her lip nervously as the nurse added, "I hope the three of us alone can pull this off."

"We'll be fine," Midori said as the mechs left, the woman saying, "See? There's only one enemy."

As the 3 mechs stood tall, the boy piloting the Kabuterimon turned to face them and said, "Dammit, it's you!" then had the beetle shoot a blast of electricity from its horn.

Kotaha had Lalamon dodge it right away, Kabuterimon simply turning to Wormmon and swiped at him only for Monodramon to knock its hand to the side. Neku managed to muster up enough caring to have Wormmon shoot string at the bigger bug.

The string seemed to work as the arm was stuck in place, however this made hardly any difference as Kabuterimon rammed its other hand into Wormmon, knocking it to the side and aiming electricity at Lalamon. Lalamon only narrowly dodged, Kotaha nervous as could be. This guy was proving to be tougher than expected.

Midori sent Monodramon's drill fingers into Kabuterimon's shoulder as the kid inside growled, Kabuterimon prying the dragon off as Midori shouted, "C'MON, HAVE A LITTLE MORE FAITH IN YOUR MECH, KOTAHA! YOU ACT AS IF GREYMON HAD TURNED ON NEIL OR SOMETHING! IT'S NOT AS IF THOSE TWO DIDN'T TRY THEIR HARDEST! AND FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING AS IF NEIL'S DEAD!"

Alejandro and Neku looked up, Kotaha smiling softly and saying, "You're right..." Lalamon's fighting spirit also going up, the kid piloting Kabuterimon barking, "DON'T IGNORE ME!" releasing an electric shock towards Lalamon.

However, Lalamon dodged again, this time shooting her bombs that resembled seeds at the bug, hitting him hard. Strangely enough, the seeds were actually enough to halt the electric shock as the kid gritted his teeth, something strange overcoming the flower mech.

Suddenly, the top of Lalamon's head opened up just like a flower bud, the pedals turning around to look more like sunflower pedals. The head then tilted 90 degrees forward, the top of the head now becoming the mech's official face, one that resembled a sunflower. Two big wing-shaped metal leaves shot out of two slots on the mech's shoulders, Lalamon's stubby hand opening up to create three fingers, a tail jutting out a hole that appeared in her back side. With that, her body expanded in size as this new form was revealed to be the champion mech, Sunflowmon.

The kid started to panic as he shouted, "That doesn't matter! Mine's a champion too!" as the Kabuterimon swiped its free arm towards her only for Sunflowmon to shout, "LEAF BLADE!" flying to the side and heading straight past the bug, striking it with one of the leaves coming out of her back.

The blade ended up cutting off the bug's arm as the kid panicked, shouting, "I WON'T GIVE IN!" firing more electricity, however, the bolt barely did any damage as the kid blinked, confused by all of this as Midori grinned and said, "Let him have it."

Kotaha nodded as she pulled hard on a lever before her, Sunflowmon's face glowing, the mech shouting, "SUNSHINE BEAM!" unleashing a powerful beam from her face.

The beam blasted straight through the Kabuterimon's chest as it started to explode, the kid hitting the eject button as he blasted off shouting, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" flying off with a jet pack.

Midori let out a sigh and had Monodramon give Sunflowmon thumbs up saying, "You rule, Kotaha!"

As Sunflowmon reverted to Lalamon, Kotaha smiled with pride as Alejandro had his head lowered. He hadn't done a thing to help nor was he getting attention. However, Neku's spirits seemed to lighten up as he gave Kotaha thumbs up.

And so the group returned and gave Yomaki the report as the woman folded her arms and said, "So, another digivolution. Well, we're making progress, but be careful. You might become a public enemy of theirs too, Kotaha," winking as Midori placed a hand on the woman's shoulder saying, "Don't worry, I got your back if that happens."

Midori was about to go back to work as she turned to see Alejandro looking upset, the woman walking over and tilting her head to the side asking, "What's eating you?"

Alejandro looked up, startled by this but also feeling happy to not only be getting attention, but getting attention from Midori of all people. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Midori sighed and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder saying, "I don't usually show respect towards guys, but you look pathetic right now. What happened to Mister Positive? C'mon, show me that positive attitude you had when I first met you."

Alejandro sighed in response to this. They didn't know him, none of them did. He simply wanted a shot at being normal and thought being positive would help. However, he had to reply, but when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out. He was too weak right now, still feeling useless.

Midori let out a sigh and pulled on the boy's arm saying, "That's it, you're gonna help me set up a stage," dismissing the girl she'd been working with before.

Alejandro was baffled, yet his heart was beating faster than ever before. With that in mind, he said, "You don't know the true me... I know you won't like the true me either."

"C'mon, you know by now I have a disdain towards men," Midori replied, rolling her eyes, "Nothing you say is gonna make me look down on you."

That tore it. Alejandro had light tears sliding down his face, a warm smile forming. He'd found acceptance, something he'd never truly felt before. All his life, he'd always been told by others to act perfect. Midori was the first to openly state that she didn't care what he was like and this made the man feel so happy.

Midori smiled at Alejandro and said, "Well, I'm sure whatever it is you're hiding isn't too important and I won't pressure you into telling me."

Alejandro looked into Midori's eyes, blushing madly as his heart beat faster and faster. He wanted so much to lean forward and kiss her, but he knew if he did, Midori would hate him for sure, so he suppressed his urges.

Meanwhile, back at Neil's house, the boy twitched before opening his eyes, feeling returning in his arms as he noticed his hand holding onto another, looking up and seeing Mato before him. The boy's face turned red as he retracted his hand shouting, "Sorry!"

Mato blushed and replied nervously, "Don't worry! I was just making sure you were okay," the woman fidgeting a little.

"Oh god, so I did lose," Neil groaned as he tried to get up, pain re-entering his body as he said, "I really can't move, can I?"

Then laughing, the boy said, "Geez, I thought that was all a dream. You must all have been worried about me. I'm sorry for being a loser."

"I'm just relieved you're okay," Mato replied, still fidgeting with her body.

Neil looked at the woman and asked, "Why are you fidgeting?" but before that convo could go any further, the man's stomach growled, his face going red.

Mato giggled, soon getting over her nervousness before handing Neil a box saying, "Here, have some Pocky," Neil taking a bite of one of the sweetened bread sticks and stated, "You really are the best."


	6. Chapter 6

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

The day passed by normally as back at the enemy base, the kid had filed his report as Aku grinned, stroking his beard and saying, "Well, well, well, another champion transformation, huh? Intriguing."

Meanwhile, tech expert and soon to be base operator Megumi, a young woman with red glasses, short dark-brown hair, a red sleeveless top and a pair of black jeans, was rushing to Yomaki's office. She had an assortment of new weapon ideas for the mechs.

Yomaki looked over the designs and said, "Well, these are certainly impressive, but don't forget, these mechs have minds of their own. I don't think they'd like being tampered with."

Megumi nodded and sighed, thinking about how much she'd have loved to ride one of these things. After all, she and Yomaki's parents had fought in the battle back then alongside their own parents.

Megumi then smiled and said, "Maybe if we're lucky, they'll be like my mom's Biyomon was. I heard she was okay with getting upgrades from everyone," Yomaki patting her on the shoulder and replying, "We can hope."

The next day, Mato awoke, still by Neil's side as she said, "Good morning."

"Good morning," Neil replied as he attempted to get up, rising back to his feet with a smile as he jumped for joy shouting, "FINALLY! I CAN MOVE AGAIN!" giving Mato a big hug and saying, "Thank you so much for being the best friend a guy could ever have!" spontaneously kissing her on the cheek then heading toward the kitchen for breakfast.

Mato's face turned beet red as she got up, faltering towards the door. This sudden show of affection caught her off-guard as she staggered down the stairs, bumping into the wall and laughing like someone who was drunk.

After breakfast, Neil was being driven to work as he rubbed the back of his neck saying, "You're probably wondering about that kiss. Well, I was just really grateful and all... you know... heheh..." the man having trouble believing he'd actually done that.

The two arrived at work at that exact moment, Mato still blushing as she said, "Yeah, of course," a big smile on her face while the two exited the car, Neku noticing them and saying, "Hey, you seem to be in a good mood. Something happen between you two?"

Neil narrowed his eyelids and replied, "How about the fact that I'm able to move again now?"

After that moment, Neil entered the workplace as Yomaki patted the boy on the back saying, "Good to have you back. You know, everyone was rather down with you away."

"Really?" Neil asked as he noticed a group of workers in his division smiling with sparkling eyes at the sight of him, the boy thinking, 'I didn't know I was popular.'

At that moment, Kotaha entered, having been once again dropped off by Luchi. Neil noticed Kotaha, his eyes sparkling as he squealed, "Now everyone's here!"

However, not everyone was feeling energetic today. Megumi had been working on the mechs since four in the morning, feeling exhausted. The only one left to make adjustments to was Agumon. But just as Megumi came close, Agumon opened up its jaws and sent them towards the woman's hand, Megumi screaming in fear and reeling her hand back, trembling.

Agumon let out a growling noise before powering down again, one eye lighting up and watching the woman. However, Megumi didn't seem to get the message as she said, "Hold still. I just want to make you stronger."

Agumon clawed at her as a warning before returning to sleep. Clearly, it didn't want to be modified.

Megumi sighed in disappointment, finally taking the hint and slowly making her way toward the exit to the room only to pass out on the floor, falling into a deep sleep. After all, she'd overworked herself with this task.

All the while, Neil was still getting swamped with attention as he said, "You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed going to work," Kotaha smiling sweetly and replying, "Well, you were certainly missed. Everyone was so depressed."

After a few hours of work, it was shower time again as Neil gulped, strutting forward only to find that the stalls were once again full.

"Sorry, Neil," Yomaki said, walking by, "It's gonna take the guys a month to build your stall."

"Are you trying to mess with me?" Neil remarked as the woman laughed and said, "If it helps, I'll accompany you this time."

As the girls were all undressing for their showers, Yomaki showed up with Neil by his side, the girls staring, Midori gritting her teeth as Yomaki spat, "Alright, listen up! Currently, Neil doesn't have a shower stall and you all have one too many, therefore Neil will have to use the women's shower room until his stall is built! You can whine and complain all you want about privacy and all that crap, but I won't listen to any of it, so accept it!"

Rather than being angered by this, Midori patted Neil on the shoulder and said, "Wow, I really feel sorry for you," the others shrugging, saying, "Who else but Neil?" Mato adding, "I feel a little bit sorry, too," a sweet smile on her face.

Neil let down tears of joy as he said, "Thank you for understanding," as Midori remarked, "If you try to touch any of us, you're a dead man," Neil's eyes going wide while Mato joked, "That ain't no lie, either, you dig?"

And so, Neil's shower went rather well. The girls had no problem with him being near them while they were naked nor did they mind him changing with them. Sure, it felt a little awkward, but it wasn't unsettling. After all, they knew Neil was the nicest male at the work place so it was only natural they'd have no problem with him around.

Afterwards, Neil walked out with Mato and said, "Ya know, that wasn't half bad," Mato turning to him and asking, "You think so? I'd feel awkward in a room full of naked men myself."

Kotaha smiled while watching the two walk ahead of her. She was glad to see Neil finally getting the treatment he usually lacked. She thought for sure he was going to get pulverized after Yomaki made the announcement.

The rest of the work day was going fine until the alarm sounded again, the Kabuterimon mech back only now, little red beetle robots were accompanying it, the kid shouting, "These Tentomon will help me exact my revenge!"

At that moment, the others ran by him, Midori grabbing the back of Alejandro's collar and heading toward their mechs, Yomaki blinking and taking out a notepad, saying to herself, "And Ali Baba is late again."

Alejandro blushed before pulling his hand away, saying, "I can walk."

"Well, pick up the pace!" Midori spat, "Leave it to a man to be late for combat!"

Alejandro looked into her eyes, anger in his as he sighed, "I was looking for my dog. She went missing. She's like my baby. Don't get snippy with me," walking away, feeling pissed.

Midori let out a sigh and shook her head, taking off toward her mech as Yomaki stood before Alejandro, a smile on her face as she asked, "Excuse me, sweetie, but don't you have something you need to do?"

Alejandro gave her a quizzical look before remembering he had to fight at that moment. With that, he shook his head and walked toward the mech room.

With that, Neil stood in front of Agumon as the dinosaur opened up without trouble, however, Neil felt a twinge of fear when he approached it. But why? He'd felt so positive all day and yet seeing Agumon again made him feel like a loser.

As Midori was about to enter Monodramon, she and the others noticed Neil trembling. The woman sighed. It was as if Neil always needed psychological help.

However, seeing Alejandro enter, the woman had to admit, she did feel a little bad for snapping at him as she said, "Hey, Alec, I'm sorry for earlier. I probably should have thought before speaking."

Alejandro barely cared right now. She could say all she wanted but it wouldn't have mattered. Right now, he was too upset with current events.

Neil was still spellbound as the others were about to take off, Midori rolling her eyes and sighing, "Neil, can you please stop being an emotional wreck and help?" but the boy didn't know what to do. He didn't want to risk damaging Agumon again.

Mato then exclaimed, "Come on, Neil-Chan, man up!"

"But... I might screw up again..." Neil replied as Yomaki backhanded him, the boy staring as the woman spat, "Look, you tried your best back there! It's not your fault you lost! Remember, Aku was using an ultimate mech, which is much more powerful than a champion one! He even said you did an impressive job considering the circumstances! You have no reason to beat yourself up!"

The boy blinked and said, "You're right," climbing into Agumon as he said, "Well, let's get to it, I guess."

Soon enough, everyone was assembled as the kid in Kabuterimon noticed the mechs shouting, "REVENGE TIME!" directing the Tentomon models toward the group, the small beetles shooting sparks from their antennae.

Agumon quickly opened up, releasing its pepper breath and blowing one of the Tentomon up as the kid piloting the Kabuterimon grimaced, thinking, 'It's the Agumon model, the other one that can transform! I'll need to be careful!'

Monodramon easily plowed through another Tentomon as Midori laughed, shouting, "EVEN WITH YOUR BUDDIES, YOU'RE STILL EASY!"

V-mon rammed his head hard into one, blowing it up as Wormmon latched his string to another, swinging it around and ramming it into one of the Tentomon, both blowing up. Meanwhile, Pawnchessmon raised its arms, a rapid fire of gun blasts going off, this being one of Megumi's additions.

Soon, Monodramon was surrounded as Midori noticed a new button installed, pushing it as the dragon's drill claws fired like rockets, blasting through the Tentomon as Midori exclaimed, "COOL!"

However, this wasn't so good when she discovered something. There were no extra claws to replace the ones she'd fired.

'Oh, I am so giving that mechanic a piece of my mind,' she thought.

Alejandro felt rather heroic gunning down Tentomon until suddenly, the gun addition ran out of bullets just as quickly as it had started using them. That certainly ended up being a letdown.

Seeing this, the Tentomon quickly took advantage of the situation, striking Monodramon and Pawnchessmon as the kid in the Kabuterimon laughed hysterically shouting, "YES, YES, YES, NOW FOR MY VENGENCE!" aiming an electric shock at Lalamon.

Lalamon took in the blast and fell back, Kotaha squealing in agony and trying her hardest to regain control. Alejandro was started to lose confidence as well. He should have still been out looking for Sam. What if she was alone having puppies?

At that moment, one of the Tentomon noticed a dog as the pilot inside, a very young girl, squealed with delight, flying over to it and picking it up by the collar. As the dog squirmed to free itself, the Tentomon mech pet it while the girl said, "Aw, don't be scared, little doggy! I won't hurt you!" as another noticed the pilot being distracted, shaking his head.

However, Alejandro was so distracted by his worry for his little collie that he failed to notice the very dog in the Tentomon's grasp. Some pet owner he was being right now.

As the Tentomon continued to rub its pincer over the dog's head, Midori turned and shouted, "HEY, PUT THAT DOG DOWN! IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR BATTLE!" the little girl ignoring her. Of course, no one knew it was a 13-year-old girl piloting the mech.

Alejandro opened up Pawnchessmon's chest, panic taking over as he saw his precious dog looking as if she was being man-handled. He then groaned, lowering his head. Of course she'd show up now of all times.

However, his concern was powerful as he spat, "LET MY LITTLE SAMMIE GO, YOU MONSTER!"

Midori, hearing this, tried to help rescue the dog only to be surrounded by Tentomon, only able to fight back with some energy blasts now that her drill claws were gone.

Neil was far too caught up as Agumon slashed away at the Tentomon, only to be knocked to the side by Kabuterimon, the kid inside turning toward the one Tentomon and shouting, "EXCELLENT WORK, MAI! WITH THAT DOG AS A HOSTAGE, I CAN EASILY PICK THESE GUYS APART!"

Alejandro's face darkened in response to this. All he had in the world in terms of family was his dog. He curled his hand into a fist but was too afraid to do anything. After all, if he attacked, who was to say Sam wouldn't be hurt as well?

Mato growled at the sight of this, shouting, "Hurting a thing like that... I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

With that, V-mon's body started to expand in size, a hole forming as a long metal horn shot up from it. Spikes also came from two holes forming on its wrists as its belly flipped around, revealing another one with an X on it. V-mon had just become the Champion mech, XV-mon.

The kid's eyes went wide as he had Kabuterimon blindly attack XV-mon, shouting, "NO, I WON'T HAVE YOU BEAT ME! MAI, THREATEN THE DOG IF THAT THING ATTACKS!"

However, it was now that he noticed Mai wasn't even listening and was still stroking the dog's head with her pincers, the boy shouting, "I SAID WAIT UNTIL SHE LAUNCHES AN ATTACK, YOU NITWIT!"

"Taste this!" Mato exclaimed, XV-mon charging up a light with the X before shouting, "X-LAZER!" blasting the Kabuterimon hard.

The kid's eyes went wide as he ejected himself just in time, Kabuterimon exploding as the boy let down tears shouting, "YOU'LL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS!"

At that moment, Neil finally gained confidence as Agumon became Greymon, blasting an onslaught of Tentomon. Unfortunately, no one could touch the one with the collie in its grasp without risking the dog's life, Neku saying, "Oi, we'd better get that dog."

Seeing the hopelessness in everyone else, Midori felt the need to go in and help. She wasn't used to Alejandro being an emotional wreck, and if the dog was the reason for this, she may as well solve this. As such, she noticed one of her claws lying on the ground as it hadn't exploded like the others. She quickly had Monodramon grab hold of it, aiming it carefully at the Tentomon's back, piercing the bug's armour as she swooped in and grabbed the dog, handing it over to Pawnchessmon and saying, "You can thank me later."

Alejandro smiled, tears of joy running down his cheeks as he cradled his precious dog. It was finally over.

Kotaha opened up her mech and gave Mato thumbs up, saying, "You two were awesome back there!"

Neil blinked, his eyes wide open as Tentomon powered down, the boy saying, "Uh... Midori... I'm pretty sure you just killed whoever was piloting that thing," as the girl shrugged and replied, "Look, I don't feel good about doing such a thing, but don't forget these people are evil. They have it coming."

At that moment, the Tentomon opened up as Midori grinned and said, "Well, I may not like murder, but I would like to see the face of my first kill."

Neil felt even more emotionally scarred by this, but nevertheless, Monodramon flew over, opening up the hatch as Midori's eyes went wide, the woman's jaw twitching.

Neil, curiously, flew in next to her, a spellbound look on his face as he noticed what had scared Midori so much: the one piloting the mech was a girl only have just recently entered the age of 13.

"Oh god..." Midori said, not saying any more than that. Seeing the look on her face, Neil felt it wise not to say anything to her as Agumon slowly stepped to the side.

Kotaha gasped, somehow recognizing this child from her days working at a daycare. As such, she instantly ran to the kid, checking for a pulse. She smiled when she heard one briefly, not realizing it wouldn't last. And unfortunately, the pulse soon died as the girl coughed up a big amount of blood all over Kotaha's face, her eyes rolling to the back of her skull as Midori grasped onto her head, screaming into the sky, Monodramon closing up and taking off back to the workplace. Midori had never felt so horrible about anything she'd done in her life.

Alejandro watched her leave, a look of concern on her face before saying, "I know exactly what you're going through. This was a very unfortunate turn of events, Chika," Mato sniffing, "So cruel... what was someone so young doing on a battlefield?"

Upon returning, Neil let down tears as he said, "I know this is a war, but that was just too far."

All the while, Midori was sitting in a corner on a chair, an emotionless look in her eyes.

"Hey, Midori, I know you guys have done a lot, but it's time to get back to your other job," Yomaki said as the girl remained silent, Yomaki asking, "What happened? I've never seen her like this."

Neil sighed, shaking his head and saying, "She has all the reason to be upset. We just discovered something shocking today and let's just say Midori played a huge part in it."

Yomaki was even more confused, but realized she wouldn't get enough out of the boy as she turned to Mato asking, "Alright, what's up with Midori? I want a straight answer right now."

Mato felt nervous telling the story, especially with Midori nearby to hear it, so she whispered it all into Yomaki's ear. She described every detail, every little thing that had happened.

Yomaki's eyes were wide open as she asked, "Wait, wait, whoa, let me get this straight! You mean to tell me they're sending children to fight their battles! Good god, what is wrong with these people! And Midori had to kill one... geez, that would kill anyone's self-esteem."

Midori started to rock back and forth in her chair, holding onto her knees with her emotionless look still on. Yomaki let out a sigh and said, "Well, until she gets better, she can't really do anything."

Alejandro felt horrible. He'd snapped at her earlier, made her feel guilty and look what happened as a result. Feeling at fault, he walked next to her, putting his arm around her reassuringly and whispered something in her ear.

Mato, assuming he was flirting, kicked him the face shouting, "DON'T SEDUCE HER, YOU JERK!"

However, the words spoken to Midori actually brought a small hint of a smile to her face as Neil stared, thinking, 'A boy just made her feel better?'

Alejandro rubbed his aching face before noticing Midori's smile. Nothing could have made him happier right now, nothing.

At that moment, Midori rose to her feet. Her expression didn't change that much, but she finally started moving again, first shocking everyone by giving Alejandro a quick light hug before heading over to Yomaki who blinked, saying, "Uh... join Neil and Mato in hall D. We need to set up a few tables there... yeah..." Midori nodding.

Mato and Neku both stared in bewilderment as Kotaha turned to face Alejandro, then to Yomaki and asked, "What did he say to her?"

Whatever it was, it seemed to work. But there was no way she'd get over this trauma that quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

As the group headed to hall D and started rolling table rounds, Midori took her time, which was different from her usual aggressive approach. Neil let out a sigh and said, "Well, at least we're seeing progress. Maybe Alejandro should be her councillor or something."

Realizing what he'd just said, the boy's eyes went wide as he asked, "Did I just suggest that?" Mato nodding her head slowly.

After setting up the round table, the boy blinked saying, "I'm starting to wish I'd been disabled for an extra day. I don't like this one."

He then went to get another round as he tripped forward, his hands running into Midori's boobs, the boy freaking out and bracing himself only for Midori to blink, raising her hand slowly and giving Neil a light slap on the cheek, so light in fact that it didn't hurt.

After a while longer, it was lunch time. Everyone was happy to have some of Kotaha's wonderful cooking, Midori slowly taking tiny bites of her food. She did like it but was still in too much shock to really enjoy the food.

"Midorin," Mato said with worry, "Are you okay?" knowing the answer but still asking anyway. *

Midori turned to Mato and blinked before looking back to her plate, Weiling snapping, "Answer the question, girl!" as Midori simply jabbed at her food, Neil stating, "She's been through some psychological trauma today. It's probably best to leave her be."

Neku then sighed, "Midori, you're really worried about what happened, aren't you?" Neil slapping his forehead and giving the man a look as if to say 'No shit, Sherlock. You really think reminding her is going to help?'

Midori didn't say a word. She simply nodded, getting up from her seat and leaving her plate at the table, heading off to work long before break was even over.

"Um, Midorin, I'll help you clean Monodra-Chan!" Mato squeaked in response.

Midori stopped upon hearing that and shook her head before resuming her trip, Neil blinking and saying, "It's funny... whatever Alex Kidd said to her got her moving. Maybe if he kept it up, she'd stop being so down in the dumps."

"You think so?" Mato asked, "He's only good at flirting," the boy shrugging.

All the while, Aku had heard the news, rage overtaking him as the kid braced himself, the man rising to his feet and shouting, "Alright, this has gone too far! How DARE they kill Mai!"

"Whoa, I've never seen you this angry at failure before," Jason said as Aku turned to him and barked, "Alright, you, Morrigan, Nathan and Zet will go out!"

A young boy with white striped shirt and Goth make-up playing with marbles in the corner looked up and blinked asking, "Did someone say my name?"

Back at the base, Yomaki saw Midori approaching her, the woman eating her own lunch from home. Midori blinked as the woman groaned, "Look, Midori, it's not your fault that child died. You did what you had to. If anything, Aku's a monster for having a kid fight for him."

Sadly, these words didn't seem to work as Midori walked off and started giving herself work, doing it as she did. Yomaki groaned and slapped her forehead, muttering curses to herself.

Neil explained what happened to the other employees as they hadn't heard the story yet, Michael saying, "Geez, no wonder she's such a wreck. If I killed a child, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

Kotaha then looked down and sighed, "I wish we could help her too. I gotta find out what Alex did."

After a while, everyone realized it might be best just to let Midori sort things out on her own, maybe let Alejandro help out instead. After all, it wasn't as if they were helping cases and if they obsessed over this, nothing would get done.

While working on meals for clients, Kotaha was still bothered by all of this. What Alejandro said to make her feel so comfortable? Furthermore, why hadn't he done it again?

While the others continued to work, Midori approached Alejandro, no idea why or what she was even doing. Rather than doing anything else, she just stood there, her expression still refusing to change.

The man smiled when he saw her, a smile coming over his face though he didn't really know what to expect right now. He simply unclasped one of his necklaces, handing it to her, hoping that would help.

"This is the symbol of Amythis, the goddess of rebirth," he replied, "It's said all who die young, by mistake, or had a pure heart shall be reborn as another." *

Upon hearing this, Midori smiled, but it wasn't weak like before. It was a plain-as-day smile that one didn't need to be up close to see. Shockingly, she accepted the necklace and put it on. Even after that, she continued to stay with Alejandro, watching whatever he was doing.

Alejandro was shocked upon seeing this. Was this a test? Were there hidden cameras that would beep if he did what he longed to do, meeting his lips with hers? No, he couldn't, not yet.

While Midori continued to watch, Yomaki came on, confused by what she saw. Midori had always been uncomfortable around men. What was she doing with Alejandro?

While Midori continued to watch, Yomaki sighed and shrugged, leaving the area. Maybe some alone time with the one guy who had made any progress would be good for the woman.

Meanwhile, Neil and Mato were busy setting up a stage, Neil's eyes wide and his teeth gritted as he lifted his end, finally putting it on the base as he wiped sweat off of his forehead, soon realizing he had to do this 8 more times, groaning. He really hated stage.

Alejandro sighed and faced Midori, saying, "I know you're expecting me to come up with a bunch of helpful words. Well, I do understand your pain. However, it would likely hurt more if the one lost is someone you love, not someone you just met."

Strangely enough, these words seemed to work as Midori blinked, turning to Alejandro and shouting, "OH MY GOD, WHAT AM I DOING NEAR YOU!"

Alejandro's eyes went wide, the man backing up as his heart pounded a bit. Still, he felt glad to see her back to her old self.

After doing so, she took a deep breath, grinned and said, "Well, thanks for snapping me back to reality. Good god, I was being an emotional wreck. Now to give Megumi a piece of my mind," walking off into the distance.

Midori entered Megumi's office and approached the mechanic, glaring and snapping, "Hey, you, what's up with the defective missile drills!"

Megumi simply looked up at the woman and replied, "Defective drills?"

"Yeah, they worked fine except for the fact that there aren't others that take their place after they're fired," Midori remarked, "The idea was good, but poorly executed."

Megumi let out a sigh and replied, "Well, I guess I'll have to work that out," before noticing Midori's neck and adding, "Nice necklace." Midori had almost forgotten about what Alejandro gave her as she felt it with a smile on her face, exiting the room, figuring she may as well let the others know she was okay.

As Neil and Mato had finally finished the stage, they saw Midori enter, punching Neil hard in the face as she said, "That's for earlier," while Neil's eyes spun, the boy groaning, "Nice to have you back..." Mato nodding in agreement.

Soon enough, it became clear to everyone that Midori was back to her old self. However, this happiness didn't last too long as the alarm went off, a Kabuterimon, Kuwagamon and Devimon scouting the area. As if that wasn't bad enough, they also had a giant turtle-like mech with big spikes as a shell.

"Remember," Jason said, pointing his Kuwagamon's finger at the tortoise, "Since you can't fly, you're gonna have to wait until we can't fight back."

"Zet understands perfectly," came a voice from within as the others gasped, Morrigan asking, "What are you doing in Zet's mech, master?" Aku saying, "I want to meet the one who killed Mai."

Upon hearing the alarm, Neil nodded and was about to head back to Agumon before turning to face Midori, asking, "Do you feel up to this? I mean, considering recent events and, well..."

"Don't worry about it," Midori said with a grin, folding her arms, "I'm over it."

And that was that. All was finally back on track. The mechs were soon deployed and the six were ready for battle.

As usual, V-mon, punched through some of the minion mechs, head-butting others. Wormmon shot sticky thread, trapping a few while Lalamon blew holes into their mechs with her seed bombs. Pawnchessmon was also on his A-game, spearing quite a few.

Agumon proceeded to take out a few mechs of his own, Midori striking down a few of her own while also making sure not to kill the pilots. After all, how did they know they weren't also kids?

"Well, well, well, the cavalry has arrived," Jason said with a grin as he sent Kuwagamon at Agumon, Neil groaning, "Oh god, this guy again..." as Agumon dodged to the side, scratching Kuwagamon's side.

Kabuterimon sent an electric blast toward Lalamon, the kid piloting it known as Nathan shouting, "REVENGE, REVENGE, REVENGE!"

Devimon sent its claws at V-mon and Wormmon as Morrigan grinned wickedly, saying, "You're not gonna get away this time."

After taking in a strike to the chest, V-mon shot steam from his nostrils as Mato spat, "NEH, V-MON, DIGIVOLVE!" V-mon simply standing there as Mato groaned, "WHY!"

As Kuwagamon swiped at Agumon, finally getting him, the dinosaur quickly became Greymon, sending a flame at the beetle robot's chest, sending it back a ways.

All the while, Kabuterimon continued to try and strike Lalamon. Eventually, he managed to do so as Lalamon backed up, Kotaha groaning.

Greymon continued to fight back against Kuwagamon as Jason grunted, "I'm not going to let you win this time."

Just as Kabuterimon was about to strike again, Monodramon knocked the hand to the side as Midori said, "C'mon, Kotaha, you're better than that!"

Kotaha nodded as she regained focus, Lalamon becoming Sunflowmon and sending a beam toward Kabuterimon. Unfortunately, Nathan seemed ready this time as he dodged to the right, striking the sunflower with more electricity.

However, during all of this, Pawnchessmon seemed to stop working. The man hit his head on the dashboard yet nothing happened. What was going on?

Kuwagamon soared back toward Greymon, planting his claws into the robot's face as Jason shouted, "YOU ARE NOT BEATING ME THIS TIME!" as Greymon simply bobbed its head forward, piercing the hand with its horns and, with its horns lodged into the hand, spun its head around, hurling Kuwagamon into the side of a building, the people inside panicking as Neil shouted, "SORRY!" then groaned, "Don't overdo it, Greymon."

At that moment, Kabuterimon picked up Pawnchessmon, Nathan saying, "Alright, another hostage to use to my advantage! Let's hope it doesn't get me killed!"

Seeing this, Midori's eyes went wide as Monodramon froze. To make matters worse one the Tentomon pilots sent electricity at Monodramon, Neku having Wormmon get in front of it only to take in the blow himself.

Upon seeing this, Midori gritted her teeth as she said, "If I go and save him, I may end up killing the passenger," as Neil remarked, "It's not like you're throwing your drill again," Kuwagamon once again locking grips with Greymon.

Midori gulped, realizing that the boy had a point as Monodramon rushed in, piercing Kabuterimon's arm thus forcing it to let go of Pawnchessmon. This immediately boosted the confidence of every mech, and just in time too as Devimon was just moments away from striking V-mon and Sunflowmon.

"You okay?" Midori asked, turning toward Pawnchessmon, then said, "C'mon, Allen, let's start kicking butt. I can't always be your babysitter."

Alejandro shook his head replying, "I want to but, you see, Pawnchessmon won't move."

"He just needs a jump start!" Midori replied, Monodramon head-thwacking it as Midori spat, "YOU'RE IN A BATTLE RIGHT NOW!"

"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Nathan spat, preparing an electric blast.

All the while, V-mon and Lalamon were still being attacked by Devimon as Greymon kicked Kabuterimon back, giving the two rookie mechs thumbs up as if to tell them digivolving would be a good idea.

Things were finally starting to look up. Not only did Pawnchessmon's power return, V-mon also decided to digivolve into XV-mon. This was perfect.

Morrigan's eyes widened as she blindly started pressing buttons on Devimon, sending various slashes. Clearly, she had not been prepared for this.

At this very moment, Midori's spirit started to increase while Monodramon's body started to expand into that of a large lizard. Bits and pieces of armour such as shoulder pads, ankle braces, wrist guards and a helmet flew out of a shoot on his back, latching to various different parts, his tail even getting a tip guard. Slits opened up around his lower body, a big pair of pants, not metal ones but actual pants, springing out and wrapping itself around his waist and legs.

"Strikedramon, champion mech," Midori said as she grinned shouting, "HELL YEAH!" Nathan's eyes going wide, Strikedramon shouting, "STRIKE FANG!" its shoulder pad opening up and sending out a flame that surrounded its body, the mech ramming Kabuterimon as Midori said, "Now, Allen! Finish it!"

Alejandro ignored having his name once again mispronounced multiple times as Pawnchessmon's spear head split in two, revealing a hold on the end of the staff, beams shooting out. The beams hit Kabuterimon hard, dealing incredible damage.

Midori rolled her eyes and said, "Not impressed," as Kabuterimon blew up, Nathan flying away on a jet pack.

Upon seeing this, Aku grinned and said, "Zet, now's your chance," as Zet launched the spiked missiles from the back of Tortomon, the tortoise revealing itself from under the sea and hitting all of the mechs.

Kuwagamon and Devimon started to recover some damage as Neil groaned, regaining control and shouting, "WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM!"

"You guys keep on going up here," Midori said, "I'll take that one."

"'Bout fucking time!" Morrigan spat as Jason sighed, "Morrigan, please, at least he came through for us, right?"

As the others rushed at Devimon and Kuwagamon again, Tortomon launched a new set of spiked missiles to stop them only for Strikedramon to send a barrage of flaming punches, overpowering the missiles and blowing them up while advancing toward the tortoise robot.

Greymon fought off Kuwagamon while Sunflowmon and XV-mon were still being attacked by Devimon, Wormmon left to fend off against the Tentomon.

All the while, Midori eventually approached Tortomon as Strikedramon shouted, "STRIKE CLAW!" punting the tortoise hard in the face with its claws, the Tortomon backing off a bit as Zet blinked, saying, "She actually caught up..."

Ironically, the others also started to fair better. Sunflowmon struck Devimon with another beam, Wormmon taking down various Tentomon.

"HOLD IT!" came a voice from inside Tortomon as Morrigan's jaw dropped, the woman shouting, "Come on! That sunflower hit me with a beam! Why can't I respond?"

Aku ignored her words and said, "That mech was a Monodramon before, right?" as Midori blinked, saying, "Uh... yeah? Wait, your voice sounds familiar."

"You're the one who killed Mai," Aku said, "I'm really mad at you!"

"C'mon, it's a war," Midori said as Aku remarked, "Look, this isn't just any old soldier we're talking about here! YOU MURDERED MY DAUGHTER!" silence filling the area. Jason, Nathan (from a distance) and Morrigan's jaws dropped. Even they didn't know this.

Kotaha froze, mortified to hear these words. Mato and Neku were simply shocked that Aku had a wife at some point in his life. However, Alejandro was in the most panic, assuming the worst. There was no way Midori's trauma wouldn't return after hearing this, right? But strangely enough, that's not what happened.

Midori blinked and frowned as she snapped back, "Look, I still feel really bad about killing a child, but what kind of heartless parent sends his daughter into a fucking war zone!"

"You don't understand," Aku replied, fuming and letting down tears, "She begged me with all her heart. She wanted so badly to help out, so I let her join eventually, not letting the others know she was my daughter. I wanted her to undergo the same kind of training, hoping she would be strong enough to defend herself. What choice did I have?"

"You could have ignored her pleading like a responsible parent," Midori retorted, "You could have said no multiple times! She would have told you she hated you! She probably would have cried and screamed, but she'd have still been alive! A responsible parent wouldn't cave in no matter what!"

"She's right, you moron!" Mato barked, "You could have at least protected her!" Alejandro all the while looking at a bracelet on his wrist, representing Amythis as well to remind himself Mai might be resurrected someday.

Hearing these words, Aku let out a sigh and said, "Zet, retreat Tortomon," as Zet asked, "But... sir...?" then sighed, "Understood..."

He then signalled the others to retreat as Morrigan shouted, "GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!" before exiting the area, Jason letting down a sweat drop.

Midori's words had clearly gotten Aku thinking. Maybe she was right. This may have just been him being war crazy and a terrible parent. He needed a lot of time to think this over.

Notes: *1) Mato saying 'Midorin' wasn't actually a spelling error. That's just how she talks sometimes. After all, she seems to be the main source of Japanese slang in this story.

*2) Truth be told, the bits for the characters Alejandro, Neku, Mato and Kotaha all had to edited by me as not only did the other two constantly use chat speak but one of them kept using multiple dots to replace periods and commas. Though I'm actually enjoying making these edits, personally.


	8. Chapter 8

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

As the group returned to their work station, Midori patted Alejandro on the shoulder saying, "Don't worry about your mech not being able to transform. Neku's can't either. Besides, I'm sure it will at some point."

"Good to see Midori in positive spirits," Neil said, resting his hand against something, soon realizing it was Mato's breast as his eyes went wide, a vein forming on the side of her head as she predictably punched him in the cheek.

Neku simply smiled and said, "Good to have things back to normal..." suddenly passing out as the others stared in shock, Yomaki blinking and asking, "What happened?"

"I think he took too much damage from that shock to Worm-Chan while protecting Midorin," Mato replied as she picked up Neku, carrying him somewhere to rest.

"Dammit," Yomaki sighed, "Well, anyway, give him this when he comes to," handing Mato an envelope along with another addressed to her.

"Wait, is it already pay day?" Neil asked as Yomaki handed him an envelope saying, "Yep," Neil looking at the paycheck and saying, "And yet we don't get more for protecting the city. Typical."

Mato nodded and smiled, saying, "Thank you," walking away from the area.

Seeing that Mato was going to be watching over Neku, Neil said, "Uh... how about I help you watch Neku?" his cheeks going red as Yomaki stated, "That's probably a good idea. I mean, the next two days are off for you anyway."

"Wait..." Kotaha said, her eyes going wide as she turned to the woman asking, "We get a break?"

"Um, yeah," Yomaki replied, "What? You think jobs don't have weekends too? The idea is to work from Tuesday to Saturday then take Sunday and Monday off. By federal law, we can't have you working more than 40 hours a week."

"Well..." Kotaha replied, "I used to work in a hospital and, well, nurses and doctors don't usually get days off," Alejandro shrugging his shoulders and making no big deal of it.

"But what'll I do during that time?" Kotaha asked. This was a whole new experience for her. A day off from work, let alone two in a row?

"How about spending time with your fiance?" Midori suggested, "I may not see much of a benefit from spending my life with a man, but clearly you get some pleasure from it. I think you two should enjoy yourselves, Kotaha."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Neil replied, shrugging, "granted he's not busy during the next couple of days."

Kotaha smiled and replied, "Alright, I'll ask him, but he's the CEO of the company he works at, so it might be hard getting him to clear his planner for two days."

And with that, everyone was off work. Mato drove Neku to her house, Neku in the back seat and Neil next to Mato as always, the boy thinking, 'I'm sharing Mato with him again. Is this God's punishment for me leaving my family?'

Meanwhile, Midori invited Alejandro to take a ride with her home. This was another shocking turn of events: Midori was happy to have a man sharing a vehicle with her.

While this sudden turn of events made no sense to the Spanish man, he gladly accepted her offer, his heart racing all the while. There was no way he's question something this miraculous.

Midori had Alejandro behind her in the seat as she said, "Now, look, I don't normally do this for a guy. If you shift your hands so they're touching my breasts or my vagina or anything like that, I am going to hurl you into the next light pole I see."

Alejandro's eyes widened with horror as he replied, "Y-you're joking, right? Do I seem that perverted to you?"

"Well, you did lower my pants once," the woman replied, Alejandro sighing, "You don't know me. That was merely an accident caused by a bad landing. I'd never violate a woman. It's dishonourable."

"Right," Midori replied, rolling her eyes as a light smile formed, the woman continuing along her way.

While driving, Mato turned to Neil and asked, "Are you regretting not being here for your friend?"

"Huh?" Neil asked, then realized she was assuming he was headed home before replying, "Hey, I want to help you watch over Neku. I'm not letting you do this alone. Neku's my friend too."

Neku suddenly started moaning, "Ugh... mom... dad..." Mato staring at him in confusion. What was he babbling about now?

Neil looked back and blinked as the two pulled up in front of Neku's house, Neil shrugging and saying, "Well, we'd probably better carry him to bed."

Soon enough, Midori pulled up in front of Alejandro's house and said, "Well, you take advice pretty well for an attractive man, Allen," before laughing and taking off on her motorbike, Alejandro letting down a sweat drop and saying, "Allen... that's even worse than being called Al..."

But while riding home, she couldn't believe what she had just said. Had those words really come from her mouth?

Neil and Mato carried Neku into his house all the way to his bed as Neil snapped his back into place saying, "That was harder than lifting a stage top."

Mato blinked and asked, "You really think that?" Neil replying, "To be fair, though, we did have to carry him a much farther distance, which I'm not used to. I really hope he wakes up soon."

As Neku lay in his bed, Neil decided it might be best to give the boy peace and quiet. While certainly good advice, Neil also had other intentions behind this suggestion.

"Hey, Mato," he said, sitting on a couch downstairs, "Can I ask you something?" Mato smiling and replying, "Fire away."

"What do you think of Neku?" the boy asked, scratching the back of his neck before adding, "I mean, in what way do you see him as a friend?"

"I think of him as a good friend," Mato replied with another sweet smile before adding, "Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason," Neil replied, his cheeks turning red, "Just... curious," Mato grinning wickedly and asking, "Are you jealous?" poking Neil's shoulder.

"You gotta stop that mind-reading thing," Neil said with a sigh, then stated, "Well, I'm kind of afraid he might be taking you away from me," folding his arms and looking down, adding, "I must come across as a child right now," Mato looking with concern and replying, "Don't think that way, Neil-Chan."

"I know I shouldn't," Neil replied, "I mean, Neku's my friend too. Petty jealousy is not a good thing to have towards friends."

Meanwhile, Kotaha approached Luchi back home and said, "Hey, Hun, I need to ask you something..." Luchi cutting in and asking, "Remember the test? The results came in."

Kotaha blinked and forgot what she was going to say, asking, "What is it?" Luchi replying, "It's A-A-A Plus," Kotaha breathless. She was going to have a baby, something she'd always dreamed of.

Luchi nodded and smiled as Kotaha gave him a hug. She then remembered what she'd come to him for, Luchi gladly agreeing. After all, this was a time for the two to celebrate.

Meanwhile, back at the enemy base, Aku sat in his chair with his eyes wide open, bags under them as he clung to his knees, a look of guilt in his expression.

"Sir, are you still moping about that?" Morrigan asked as Jason replied, "It hasn't even been a day yet. Give him some time to recover."

At that moment, a pair of twin girls wearing revealing tube pink tube tops and blue mini-skirts, Stacy and Prima, Stacy having blue hair and Prima having red, entered as Prima asked, "Say, Aku, would you just like us to help you out?"

"We'd be ever most honoured," Stacy replied, both giving the man puppy-dog eyes as Aku looked up briefly and muttered, "Oh, yeah, sure... whatever..."

Morrigan glared at the two, feeling rather jealous they'd been chosen to go and fight. Although unbeknownst to her, a man loomed in the shadows, watching her from a corner and keeping his wide eyes on her.

Meanwhile, Neku's body was twitching as he started to have a horrible nightmare. In his dream, he was eight years old and currently crossing the street, not noticing a car headed right towards him.

Suddenly, an older woman, his mother to be exact, shoved him out of the way as the car ran into her, Neku letting down tears and yelling, "MOMMY!"

The dream soon cut to later at a hospital months later as Neku stared at his father lying in one of the beds. The doctor rested a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "I'm afraid this is fate," Neku remarking, "What do you mean by that?"

"His illness was too fatal to cure," the doctor replied as Neku bit his lip shouting, "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!" letting down tears.

Suddenly, Neku's eyes shot open, the man waking up as he breathed heavily. He had hoped to have forgotten those horrible events from his childhood.

Neil and Mato entered to check up on him when they noticed he was up, Mato asking, "Neku-Chan, are you okay?" Neku nodding lightly as Neil said, "Well, I guess that means we can go to our own houses," Neku nodding and saying, "He's right, Mato. I want to be alone right now anyway," Mato nodding reluctantly and taking her leave.

As Neil entered the car along with Mato, he blinked and said, "Gee, that seemed rather abrupt. He didn't even thank us for watching over him. I hope he really is okay."

The day had been long and soon, nightfall came. It was one day before the true start to everyone's weekend, but would the weekend be enjoyed?

As morning came, Mato called up Neku, the man answered as she squeaked, "Nee, Neku-Chan, you wanna hang out today?" Neku replying, "No, I'm fine," Mato replying, "You sure?" Neku sighing, "Yes..." Mato stating, "Well, if you're certain," hanging up and thinking maybe she could call Neil up. She did not wish to be bored today.

Neil had woken up and was laying on the couch, blinking while thinking, 'I need to do something. What could I do with Mato today? It's usually her doing things for me.'

Then an idea came to Neil. What was one thing he seldom ever did? Spend more than 100 dollars a week. Sure, this was simply to save up for his college fund, but he had more than enough to spare and now with him having to save lives, it wasn't as if he could leave the company he worked for even if he wanted to.

At that moment, the boy whipped out his cellphone when ironically, it started ringing, the boy blinking and clicking the talk button then saying, "Hello?"

"Neil-Chan," Mato replied with a smile, "Neku said he can't hang out for some reason. Do you wanna do something?"

Neil's eyes sparkled as he said, "Sure, why not? Anything special you wanna do?" Mato replying, "I wanna go shopping," Neil agreeing happily to this before hanging up and squealing, "I guess we're going to the mall today!"

All the while, Midori was riding through town with no real reason when she saw a familiar face. She stopped, her eyes going wide as she asked, "Yae, is that you?"

A young woman who looked quite similar to Midori only with black hair and darker skin turned to face the girl, a smile forming on her face as Midori got off of her bike, the two embracing one-another as the other woman exclaimed, "Midori! Oh my god, it's been so long since you moved! How have you been?"

"Fine," the woman replied, "Just landed myself a job at some center for holding events and stuff. How about you?"

"Well, my work isn't nearly as exciting," Yae replied, "My boss has actually been under the weather as of late. Something about the loss of a family member or something." Midori blinked, thinking this rather ironic but decided it was nothing.

Kotaha was walking through town, deep in thought. Was this really the best time to be pregnant?

At that moment, Midori was walking her cycle along the sidewalk, talking to Yae, Yae saying, "I still can't believe you actually went out and bought yourself a motorcycle. If mom saw you with that, she would flip!"

"Well, screw her then," Midori replied with a smug grin, "I'm an adult now."

At that moment, Midori saw Kotaha walking the streets and waved at the woman shouting, "Hi, Kotaha!" Yae asking, "A friend of yours?" Midori nodding and replying, "She works at the same place I do."

Kotaha worked up a small smile, doing her best to hide her stress. After all, she didn't want her best friend to worry.

Midori placed her hands against her hips saying, "Gee, that was rather... brief..." then signalled Yae to follow, the two approaching Kotaha as Midori said, "Hey, uh... this is my sister, Yae."

Kotaha smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Kotaha," bowing her head in respect.

Yae shook Kotaha's hand and said, "So... Midori tells me you work together," Midori replying, "Well, she works in a different division," Kotaha nodding with a brighter smile.

Midori grinned and added, "She's also getting married soon," Yae gasping and saying, "Oh my god, this is big news! Is he nice?"

Kotaha nodded and replied, "Of course, though we may be bonded forever now."

Midori grinned wickedly and said, "Oh, ho, ho, holding out on us, are ya?" Course, she was joking and had no idea how right she was, Kotaha's face going white.

Seeing Kotaha's expression, Midori blinked as she said, "Oh, you don't actually mean..." Yae asking, "What? What are you talking about?"

Kotaha sighed and showed the two her shopping bag, the bag full of products for taking care of babies. The answer was obvious now.

Midori's eyes widened as she smiled and said, "Well, congratulations. It's a good thing you're getting married soon, eh?"

"But won't that also mean she can't work for 9 months?" Yae asked as Midori replied, "Her job is cooking. It's not exactly the hardest of work."

Neku walked by as Midori turned to him and explained, "That's the guy who attracts just about every female," as Yae said, "He's cute."

Neku simply gave a light wave to them before heading along his way, clearly distracted by his headphones. Seeing the boy wandering off, Midori sighed, shaking her head and saying, "Don't bother trying to talk to him. He's not exactly the most social one around."

"Does that mean I won't stand a chance with him?" Yae asked, a street performer beating a set of drums next to her as the woman said, "That wasn't meant to be a joke."

While at the mall, Mato smiled at Neil and asked, "So, what do you think?" Neil replying, "Well, it's nice to be out of the house with my best friend in the whole world," Mato smiling sweetly before asking, "Nee, wanna go to the arcade?"

Neil's eyes sparkled as he said, "I love you..." then realizing what he said, he regained his composure saying, "As a really awesome friend, of course," coughing briefly.

While Mato played a shooter, Neil was in the middle of playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 while thinking of something he could actually treat Mato to. Each one had paid for his/her own tokens.

After a while, he asked, "So, what else do you wanna do?" Mato's stomach growling as she blushed and replied, "Maybe lunch," Neil thinking this was perfect.

And so the two headed to the food court, Neil paying for both their meals as he thought, 'Yes! I did something for Mato!'

Mato smiled while asking, "Aren't you glad to be here?"

Neil nodded and took a sip of coke. Meanwhile, just moments away from the city, two butterfly-like mechs were set up as Stacy sighed, "This is boring! When do we get to attack?"

Prima smiled and said, "Patience. We need to be ready."

Meanwhile, at the enemy base, the stranger continued to watch Morrigan. As Morrigan sat on a couch, deciding to watch TV to pass the time seeing as Aku was a nervous wreck, her eye twitching as she turned around and snapped, "OKAY, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! SHOW YOURSELF!"

The man exited the shadows, revealing himself to be an older man with red eyes and long black hair saying, "I'm Rayleigh. I believe I can be of use."

Morrigan groaned and said, "Leave me alone. I'm perfectly fine on my own. How come I've never seen you around here, anyway?"

Rayleigh plucked one of Morrigan's hairs off her head, the woman scowling as he swallowed the hair, transforming into her. He grinned and nodded his head.

Morrigan freaked out, backing up as she breathed heavily, the woman gulping before asking, "What the fuck are you?"

"As I said, I am Rayleigh," the man replied as Morrigan remarked, "I said WHAT are you, not WHO, you fucking idiot!" Rayleigh sighing, "Language woman. Anyway, I am a shape-shifter. If I swallow human DNA, I can take on that form at any given time. Does this frighten you?"

Morrigan grinned and said, "I could turn you into the authorities. Something like you shouldn't exist. However, I am actually interested now."

Rayleigh nodded as Morrigan let out a sigh and asked, "So, what do you have in mind, exactly? How are you going to help me?"

"What do you think?" he remarked, "I'll take the form of a child and get to know them. After I gain their trust, I'll find the most easily forgotten and kidnap him or her without the others knowing. After that, I'll take the person's place and destroy the whole team."

"Wow, you're pure evil," Morrigan replied, a grin on her face, "I don't think even Aku would have thought up something like that."

At that very moment in town, the Butterfly-like robots piloted b Stacy and Prima appeared, people screaming in terror as the butterflies started pulling out big straws, sucking electricity from the town as Prima said, "Oh, this is such music to my ears," Stacy shouting, "Who cares! I'm just glad we're doing something!"

Seeing this, Yae gasped as Midori turned to her saying, "Uh... we'd probably better go now. I'll try to hold them off, Yae. You leave."

"But Midori..." Yae said, but couldn't finish her statement. But why?


	9. Chapter 9

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

This was certainly a turn for worse. The day had been going rather well until Prima and Stacy showed up. And what couldn't Yae say as her reason for not wanting Midori to go up against the two? If she was concerned for the woman's safety, she would have naturally said so right away, so it can't have been that.

Upon spotting Yae, Stacy gritted her teeth, Prima rolling her eyes. 'Figures,' the girl thought, 'Why can't that Yae do anything right?'

Mato and Neil heard the sound easily as they went outside of the mall, Mato saying, "Neil-Chan, you know exactly what to do!" Neil nodding as the two took off toward the work station at the speed of wind. It wasn't long until Neku was running toward the building as well.

As Neil and Mato got into the car, Neku just happened to run by there as he quickly joined them as Neil blinked, saying, "Fancy meeting you here," the car taking off.

Midori let out a sigh and said, "Kotaha, bring Yae somewhere safe while I provide a distraction," before muttering, "Also find a way to get to our workplace without her noticing."

Kotaha nodded as she grabbed Yae's hand, dragging her toward a safe area. Yae's eyes went wide as she shouted, "WAIT, KO-CHAN, LET ME TALK TO THE PILOTS OF THOSE ROBOTS! I SWEAR I CAN HELP!"

Kotaha shook her head and replied, "I'm sorry, but I promised Midori I'd get you to safety."

Midori took off on her motorbike shouting, "HEY, IDIOTS, KISS MY ASS!" Prima and Stacy fuming as they spat, "OH, THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING DOWN, BITCH!"

Soon enough, the other three got to the base as Neil groaned, "Yeah, sure, don't let me enjoy my day off, you dicks," getting into Agumon as soon, all three were in their mechs and taking off.

Soon enough, the mechs arrived, Agumon sending a flame at one of the mechs, each known as Butterflymon, sending it back as Prima said, "Well, well, well, the cavalry has arrived," Stacy grimacing and whining, "But I wanted to kill that girl!"

V-mon and Wormmon also did the best they could to fight off the Butterflymon, things starting to look a little better. But just how long was this going to last?

Kotaha did certainly take Yae to a safe location. Unfortunately, the only one nearby she could trust was her work place. She figured if Yomaki and Megumi were there, they could watch over the woman, but since it was their day off, they weren't. However, Yomaki had left the door unlocked as not only was there nothing in this place really worth stealing but she figured something like this might happen.

"No, really, I can help," Yae pleaded, thinking, 'Why would those 2 attack this city?'

Kotaha turned to Yae and sighed, "It's gonna be hard to explain this, but come with me. There's a room here I know you'll be safe in."

The Butterflymon were taking in quite a beating until Stacy and Prima nodded at one-another, pulling out their straws and latching them to Agumon and V-mon, sucking the power out of them as both mechs powered down, falling to the ground as Neil gritted his teeth shouting, "NO, C'MON! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"

At that moment, Monodramon came into the scene only to have the same happen to it, Midori's eye twitching. So much for that.

Meanwhile, Alejandro was currently on a flight back to Tokyo. Wait, where had he been? Well, as it just so happened, Alejandro's business trip had been rescheduled for this very day, and it being the weekend, he took full advantage of it. It wasn't a long trip, the plane itself being faster than usual, so he was able to make it back quickly.

Mato was getting rather annoyed waiting for him to show up and help and as such whipped out her cellphone and called him up. The second he answered, she belted, "WE NEED SOME HELP HERE, YOU MORON!"

Alejandro held the phone away from his ear and sighed, headed toward the base as quickly as possible.

Neku gritted his teeth and said, "Come on, Wormmon, don't let me down," the worm latching string to one of the Butterflymon, the girls very unimpressed by this. Was this really all Wormmon could do? This was weak.

As such, Stacy's Butterflymon easily clawed the web open with its claws as the girl laughed, saying, "Wow, that was just pitiful!"

Before leading Yae to the room with the mechs, Kotaha remembered the storage area and how it could be locked from the inside. With that in mind, she took Kotaha there and said, "Wait here," closing the door before heading to the mech room just as Alejandro had arrived, headed there himself, Yae all the while thinking, 'Dammit! I need to get out there!'

As the Butterflymon continued to chase Wormmon around, Neil started to tremble as he said, "Oh god, it's happened again... I've lost..."

Luckily, Lalamon and Pawnchessmon arrived at that exact moment, ready to fight as Lalamon sent a few seeds into both mechs. However, this hardly did a thing as Prima's Butterflymon jabbed its straw up against Lalamon and started sucking the power out of her.

Alejandro stared at this, feeling like he wouldn't be able to do much as Kotaha's body turned white, Lalamon falling to the ground. This was getting them nowhere.

"Only two more to go," Prima said as Stacy shouted, "Let's light em on fire! Yeah! FIRE! FIRE!" Prima retorting, "Chill out. Our mechs can't do that, remember?"

"You all okay down there?" Alejandro asked as Mato retorted, "DO YOU THINK WE'RE OKAY! WHERE WERE YOU!" Wormmon trying to fight the Butterflymon again.

"Geez, pushy much?" Alejandro replied with a nervous smile, feeling too nervous to go in there and help, though.

The Butterflymon continued to overpower Wormmon, trying their best to jam their straws into him. Strangely enough, dodging was the one thing Wormmon was doing a great job at today.

Midori let out a sigh and said, "Listen, Alejandro, right now, even I'm powerless to stop these two. As much as it pains me to accept help from men at times, you and Neku are our only hope. Please help us."

Alejandro's face turned beet read upon hearing this. Soon, it cleared up as he grinned and stated, "You remembered my name and even asked for my help. I'll do anything to help you! I'll trash them!"

With that, his heart raced as Pawnchessmon's eyes glowed briefly, the robot's legs suddenly splitting into two, the back half shooting backwards, still attached to the body though. Soon, an extra bit of metal appeared on the halves that had been taken from them, thus turning two pairs of half-legs into full legs. Said legs then proceeded to stretch out, the shoes going inside of the mech and being quickly replaced by hooves. The upper body soon grew in size as well, the head going inside of the mech and being replaced by a more manly-looking one. The spear also turned inside-out, the inside part soon revealed to be what looked like a huge medical needle although it really was just a bigger spear. He had just become the champion mech Knightchessmon.

Stacy's eye twitched as she shouted, "So what! You got a champion mech now! Big friggen deal! I can still beat you!"

Knightchessmon stood tall and proud before Stacy's mech as Alejandro remarked, "I won't let you!"

Neku then noticed a young girl running for her life from the Butterflymon, not realizing they weren't even pursuing her and calling out for her mother. When Neku saw this, horrible memories of his past returned, the man breathing heavily.

Prima had her Butterflymon hold out its claws, aiming for the kid as she said, "C'mon, mommy needs a hostage!"

The girl shrieked in horror as Neku fumed and spat, "GET AWAY FROM THAT KID, YOU MONSTER!"

Suddenly, Wormmon's body tucked into his head, the head soon turning inside-out, revealing a dark-green beetle head. Then his old body came out only now longer, soon flipping inside-out as well, revealing a muscular torso. Legs came out from two holes on his lower section, two blade-like claws on the end of the each foot. Two spikes shoulder pads covered holes that a pair of arms sprouted out of, what looked like gun barrels atop each wrist and sharp claws representing fingers. He was now Stingmon.

With that, Stingmon spat, "MOON SHOOTER!" giving Prima's mech a quick kicked to the torso. However, Prima ignored this sent her straw toward the bug, Neku shouting, "I DON'T THINK SO!" Stingmon forming a purple spike from the gun-barrel like attachment on his left hand shouting, "SPIKING STRIKE!" impaling the Butterflymon.

Prima's Butterflymon started to spark as it lowered itself to the ground. This left Stacy trying to use her straw on Knightchessmon.

Alejandro refused to allow this to happen as he pressed a button, Knightchessmon's spear bursting with electricity, the mech shouting, "THUNDER SPEAR!" ramming it hard into the Butterflymon.

As the Butterflymon sparked, Stacy shouting, "STUPID MACHINE!" energy returning to the other mechs as Neil sighed with relief, saying, "That was scary..." Midori asking, "More scary than almost being crushed?" Neil stating, "Good point."

Alejandro had Knightchessmon land as he jumped out, wishing he could kiss Midori as a reward for his efforts. After all, he'd been the hero for once.

At that moment, Yae rushed into the scene, clearly getting herself out of the storage room and shouted, "HEY, STACY, PRIMA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING!" Kotaha's eyes going wide.

The two opened up their mechs as Prima blinked, asking, "Yae? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be back at the base?"

"Well, I wanted to visit my sister," Yae replied, then noticing the other mechs nearby, Midori's opening up as the woman asked, "Yae, you know these people?"

"Oh no..." Yae said, holding her hand over her mouth as Prima remarked, "Didn't you know this is the town we're at war with?"

"Wait, what's going on here?" Midori remarked, narrowing her eyelids, Alejandro saying, "You gotta be kidding me," Kotaha squeaking, "You WORK for them!"

Yae let down tears asking, "Midori, how could you!" Midori retorting, "I COULD ASK YOU THE SAME THING! I never would have imagined you of all people serving evil!"

Prima and Stacy's eyebrows rose as Yae spat, "I'm not serving evil! You are!"

Neil's eyes widened as he retorted, "Hey, I'm not evil and neither is any of these people!"

Before the conversation could continue, Prima threw Yae a jet pack and said, "We'd better get out of here," before taking off on their own, Yae letting down a tear and taking off, not willing to continue this conversation any longer.

"This doesn't add up..." Kotaha said as Alejandro scratched his head, adding, "I'm just as confused as you are. Wait, who was that?" Kotaha replying, Midori's sister," Alejandro even more confused now.

"But wait..." Mato asked, "Aren't they supposed to be the bad guys?" Neku wondering that himself.

Midori looked down as she said, "I can't believe it..." shaking her head as Neil put on a sad look saying, "Gee, this must be so hard on you. Sorry..." Mato shouting, "DON'T YOU DARE BLACK OUT ON US, AGAIN!"

"Oh no, no, I'm not going through that drama again," Midori replied, shaking her head while grunting, "I mean, I willingly spent time with a guy during that phase! Look, let's just try to enjoy the rest of our time off! I don't wanna think about this!"

Alejandro walked over to Midori and patted her on the shoulder saying, "Thanks... for that speech, back there... you gave me strength..." his heart pounding now.

Midori smiled and said, "Well, try not to get used to it..." then sighed, "You kinda needed it."

Alejandro nodded and replied, "I know, but keep in mind that whatever happens, you got my back."

"Neku-Chan, are you feeling better?" Mato asked as Neku smiled lightly, saying, "Yeah... a little..."

"Well, thank god all of that's over," Neil sighed, adding, "I hope we don't run into more of them. I want to enjoy my two days off," Mato grinning and replying, "Okay, how about a gathering?"

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna head back home," Midori sighed, "I still need to clear my head. I hope you understand," taking off in Monodramon.

And so the weekend went by as the group soon returned to work, Yomaki saying, "Everyone, I have a special announcement to make."

Everyone turned to give Yomaki their undivided attention. This was certainly different for her.

"You've all worked very hard, even those who just started recently," Yomaki said, "I personally think you're all lucky to have joined the force a week before I decided to do this."

"Oh god, don't tell me we're setting up another birthday party," Neil groaned, "Last one was a nightmare!"

Yomaki blinked and replied, "Trust me, even I don't want to do that again. No, I've decided we all need a vacation, so we're gonna spend the next 3 days in the sunny beaches of Hawaii."

Silence filled the area as Jessica asked, "Are you bullshitting us?" Yomaki shaking her head and grinning, everyone breaking out into cheers.

Alejandro smiled wide, his dimples showing as he exclaimed, "A vacation with all of you to Hawaii! This is great!" Kotaha beaming and exclaiming, "Thank you, Yomaki-San!"

Mato squealed with joy as Neku said, "Always wanted to go to Hawaii."

"As an added bonus, you can bring anyone you want, including a future husband is you so choose," winking at Kotaha as Midori smiled and said, "Wow, that'll help calm my nerves."

Kotaha felt even happier now. That meant she could bring Luchi with her. This was just the kind of romantic getaway they needed.

Luckily for the others, at this exact moment, Aku had gotten over his stupor and decided to call a vacation for his group as well, to a different area of course. He figured he needed to clear his head as well.

Neil then realized something. Hawaii was most popular for its beaches. This meant he'd be seeing girls in swimsuits. Normally, he'd have felt a little awkward about this, but then again, he had been showering with the women for the last little while, so it wasn't as if this was too bad.

"So when do we go?" Midori asked as Yomaki replied, "We're gonna be going in an hour. Go home, get your stuff packed and meet me back here within that time slot."

"Wow... 3 days in Hawaii..." Neil said, gulping, "I've never even been to the states before. This is gonna be interesting."

"Even better!" Mato replied with a wink, "Thanks to you, Neil, I studied English!" Neil blinking as she replied, "Well, I had to in order to understand you when I first met you."

Soon enough, everyone was packed as Neil and Mato rode in, the man looking at Mato and gulping, imagining the woman in a swimsuit. He tried not to show it, though. Besides, he would be seeing it soon, the magic that was Mato... in a swimsuit. Just the mere thought made him drool.

Of course, Alejandro was imagining the same thing only with Midori. He couldn't wait to finally see it.

Kotaha and Luchi soon pulled up to the building in Luchi's car shortly after the others had arrived, Midori also pulling up on her cycle with a bag humped over her shoulder. She noticed Kotaha with her fiance, the woman realizing she needed to give up her pride and act nice towards him. After all, the man was marrying her new best friend.

No one could believe this was slim and weak-looking Kotaha's fiance. He was slightly ripped and had curly brown hair. With grace and dignity, he opened the door and helped Kotaha out like a true gentleman, then it became more clear. Under his rough exterior was a very nice man.

Neku had brought a younger girl with long black hair and a dress along. This was his little sister, Rina, and she wasted no time introducing herself to everyone.

Alejandro pulled up at that exact moment as Rina pointed and asked, "Who's that bulky man?" Neku replying, "That's Al."

Alejandro twitched as he thought, 'Dammit, it's ALEJANDRO, not Al! I hate that stupid nickname!' but didn't say it out loud as he didn't want to upset the kid, Rina adding insult to injury by replying, "Oh, so he's Mr. Alex," Alejandro's head slamming into the steering wheel, his horn going off, Rina giggling and saying, "Alex is funny."

Alejandro then sighed and exited the car, asking Neku, "So, who's this little gal?" Neku replying, "This is my sis, Rina," then whispering in his ear, "If you do anything to her, I will kick your ass."

"Pushy much?" Alejandro replied, "I was just curious and happen to like children. It's too bad I don't have a girl of my own. I've been thinking of adoption but I can't find the time to take care of a child."

"Isn't it easier to marry?" Mato asked as Alejandro sighed, "I suppose, but finding my perfect match... it's hard."

Midori saw Neku's sis and patted her on the head saying, "Well, you have your brother's good looks, I see. You'd better be prepared when guys start hitting on you," winking, Rina giggling in response to this.

Seeing all these people made Neil feel left out. He had no one to bring with him. Well, that didn't matter. That just meant more time for him to spend with Mato. Rina walked over to the man with curiosity, wondering what he was thinking about.

Neil looked down at Rina, blinking and saying, "Hi," not sure what to add to that.

Luchi then introduced himself to everyone, shaking hands with all of them as it was merely the polite thing to do. Kotaha had refrained from mentioning Neil's curse, knowing how Luchi would respond if she knew it had affected her.

Seeing the man, Neil's eyes went wide as he thought, 'Okay, body, you do anything funny, like slipping on a banana peel or something, we'll both be dead within minutes.'

Yomaki then opened up the ground next to everyone as a big plane came out, Midori asking, "We have a plane here?"

"Hey, it's better than taking the airport," Yomaki remarked.

Neil blinked and asked, "How did we never notice that before?" Yomaki ushering everyone on board, the others shrugging and boarding.

Midori sat next to Jasmine, allowing, Kotaha some room and refusing to sit next to a man, Neil sitting next to Mato. Rina naturally sat next to Neku, Neku refusing to allow anything else, Alejandro next to Megumi and feeling disappointed that Midori hadn't chosen to sit with him.

Soon enough, the plane took off as Neil let out a sigh, saying, "Well, this is... exciting..."

And it certainly was. Just what exactly awaited them in Hawaii?


	10. Chapter 10

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

The plane ride to Hawaii was going alright except for one minor issue. Alejandro and Megumi didn't seem the least bit interested in what the other would want to talk about. Alejandro was flipping through a magazine while Megumi looked through blue prints for the heck of it.

Mato simply stared at the Spanish ex-model as he looked up from his magazine and asked, "What's up with you? Did I do something?" Mato remarking, "Shouldn't you at least talk to Megumi-San?"

"She's in her 30's," Alejandro replied, "And besides, she seems a little too interested in what she's doing."

Suddenly, the plane hit some turbulence as everyone jumped in their seat, and as soon as it calmed down, Neil noticed his hand was right up against Mato's chest, his eyes going wide. Mato, as expected, freaked out before punching Neil's cheek hard.

Rina clung to Neku wining, "Onii-Chan!" Neku patting her on the head and replying, "It's okay, Rina. Just a little turbulence."

Kotaha was also quite startled as she clung to Luchi, the man rubbing her back and saying, "It's okay, honey."

Neil groaned as the stewardess, Mia from house keeping, walked by and asked, "Want some peanuts?" Neil slowly saying, "I'll have a bag..." the woman whispering, "Come to the back and I'll let you feel me up all you like," winking as Neil's eyes widened while twitching, Mato pouting in response to this.

Soon enough, the plane arrived at its destination as Yomaki said, "Alright, everyone, I have booked us all the biggest hotel here. Once you get your things unpacked, you're free to do whatever you want."

As the group exited, Alejandro tried desperately to keep his excitement contained. Before, whenever he travelled, it was always for a photo shoot or something business-related. This would be his first real vacation outside of Mexico or Japan.

Soon enough, everyone had unpacked his/her things and it was time for the one thing everyone came to Hawaii for: the beach.

The men all marvelled at the women in their swimsuits until Midori showed up wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, everyone's eyes twitching as one of the guys asked, "What the hell is that?"

"This is what I swim in," Midori replied, "The way I see it, it's better to conceal than to reveal."

"NO IT'S NOT!" the guys retorted, "THAT'S RETARDED!"

Midori rolled her eyes and remarked, "You got 50 other women to ogle. Just look at them."

While Alejandro might not have been among the guys criticizing Midori's outfit, he was easily the most disappointed of them all. He had looked so forward to seeing her in a swimsuit, so seeing her wearing everyday clothes was a huge letdown for him.

To make things even more awkward, a group of hula dancers were eyeing the Spanish man, winking at him. They recognized him from the many different magazines he starred in. As such, they danced over to him, Alejandro feeling uncomfortable but being a gentleman anyway and allowing them to feel his biceps after they begged him to.

"Oh, so strong," said one of them as the other added, "You must work out all the time," Midori rolling her eyes at this, Alejandro seeming oblivious to the flirting but was fully aware and just didn't want to acknowledge them.

Neil soon entered the area in his own swimsuit looking around for Mato, the one he wanted to see most of all, and it wasn't long until he found her. Seeing the girl of his dreams, Neil's eyes sparkled. But he had to hide his dirty thoughts.

As such, he walked over to her and rubbed the back of his neck stating, "Hey, Mato, that swimsuit looks great on you."

Mato beamed and giggled, "You think so?" Neil nodding as Neku joined him, saying, "Yeah, it looks good," mostly just wanting to be polite and set a good example for his sister, though deep down inside, he didn't really care.

At that moment, Midori invited Mato over to play beach volleyball with her and the other girls, Megumi and Kotaha jumping at the opportunity, Kotaha figuring a good workout would be good for her upcoming child. All the while, she hoped the mech war wouldn't last as something that intense was sure to have negative results eventually.

"Hey, Mato, c'mon," Midori said as she added, "The wimp can watch," Neil lowering his eyelids.

Mato nodded as Neku gave Neil a look as if to say 'Hey, this is your chance to spend quality time with her'. It was time for Neil to be a man. He was on vacation with the woman of his dreams and wasn't going to screw this up. As such, he volunteered to be her team mate much to Midori's dismay.

Kotaha was a little surprised seeing Neil of all people stepping up as she said, "I take it you're good at this game," Neil grinning nervously and replying, "Well... I don't suck too much at it..."

Megumi smirked and spun her arm around while replying, "It's time to show your game boy-o, it would suck to be taken down by some girls, but me, Yomaki, and Beat used to play volleyball and such way back when."

And so the game went by, Midori's team dominating the others by a bit... thanks to Neil. Unfortunately, the man was responsible for 75% of the other team's points, not getting a single point for the team.

'Okay, concentrate,' the boy thought, 'You can do this.'

And thus Jasmine served up a big one as it headed toward Neil, the boy leaping toward it and for once, hitting it hard as it flew to the other side, actually landing on the other side much to everyone's surprise.

Unfortunately, Neil had also tripped upon hitting the ball as he bumped into Mato from behind, taking her down with him. As he opened his eyes, he pushed himself up, soon realizing his hands were on top of the woman's butt cheeks, the boy's eyes going wide as he subconsciously gave them a squeeze.

Neku face palmed as Mato screamed and reeled her foot back, shooting it upward and planting it hard against Neil's face, causing him to let go. Why he didn't see this coming was a mystery.

Midori slapped her forehead, sighing, "On the plus side, Neil, you actually won us the game, as in, not your team," Kotaha and Megumi nodding as Neil groaned, "Sorry, Mato..."

"There, there," Mato replied with a sweet smile, patting the man's head while Megumi whispered something regarding Neil into Kotaha's ear, the woman giggling in response to this.

After that, everyone decided to go for a swim. After all, it was a beach.

Neil stood by the water, reaching his foot forward then retracting it. He hated getting wet outside of a shower.

Mato saw this and grinned deviously, teasing, "Watch out for sharks!"

"Sharks!" Neil remarked, trembling as he backed off, Midori laughing and saying, "Wow, Mato, I'm impressed. That's like something I'd do to scare someone."

Eventually, Neil stepped into the water and let out a sigh, smiling at Mato and approaching her slowly. He then decided to go for a swim with her.

During this, Megumi simply sat out of the water, no interest in it whatsoever as Kotaha simply didn't want salt water in her mouth and was very cautious about it. Luchi had also rented a jet ski, Alejandro watching this with wonder. He figured since Midori had a motorcycle, she might be attracted to a man on a jet ski. In fact, he was so determined to win her affection that he rented one almost instantly, performing all kinds of stunts on it.

Midori looked at the sight of this, whistling while Yomaki shouted, "Woo! You go, Al-yama-llama-rama-daba-ding-dong!" Midori replying, "Now you're just being mean."

Alejandro turned his attention to the girls, amazed that Midori was impressed. With that, he grinned, getting distracted as he lost his footing and fell off, Luchi breaking out into hysterics while shouting, "Nice one man!" Alejandro spat a bunch of seawater out of his mouth, scared of what Midori thought of that, noticing that Midori slapped her forehead and Yomaki was laughing insanely.

Yomaki exited the water, coming back with her own jet ski as she shouted, "PAY ATTENTION, YOU NEWBIES!" showing up Luchi in a heartbeat.

Mato's eyes sparkled as she squeaked, "Oh, I wanna try that!" Neku nodding and adding, "It does look like fun."

Luchi and Alejandro stared at Yomaki's skills as Luchi spat, "You wanna go, lady? Let's dance!" speeding up while trying to outdo her only to end up failing while Alejandro rolled his eyes.

Neil was ultimately pressured into doing it as he started it up behind Mato, taking her lead. He was doing surprisingly well for a while but unfortunately lost his balance as he flew forward, flying into Mato and knocking her off of her jet ski with him.

As he emerged and took a deep breath, his vision was pitch black as if something was covering his eyes. He quickly removed what it was, realizing it was a bikini, but not just any bikini as his eyes went wide.

Mato wiped her forehead and said, "Well, that was fun while it lasted, right Ne-?" turning to noticing him holding a bikini that looked suspiciously like hers, the girl's eyes widening as she looked down at her exposed chest, shrieking before slapping Neil hard in the face, hiding her chest and running out of the water.

"WAIT!" Neil spat, pursuing her while trying desperately to apologize only to end up tripping and pulling on the back of her bikini bottoms, the clothing slipping down as now her butt was exposed, Neil panicking.

Mato fumed, feeling legitimate anger toward Neil for the first as she rose her foot, planting it into his face before running off toward the changing area to get back into her regular clothes. She was both embarrassed and furious right now, not wanting to see Neil.

Pretty much everyone had stared at this scene too. Neku was concerned about where this would end up, Rina just confused about the whole thing as Alejandro turned away, not wanting to watch this painful sight. Kotaha simply had her hand clutching her heart, giving a prayer for Neil.

"Oh god, that was awkward..." Neil sighed, holding up the bikini parts as Midori said, "Wow, I've never actually seen her that embarrassed before. You totally need to confront her about this."

"Right now!" Neil spat, his eyes widened as the woman nodded, saying, "You two are best friends, right? You can't let this mishap compromise that," as she pushed Neil toward where Mato went, Neil panicking him shouting, "She might not be changed right now!"

Unfortunately, Neil had been pushed coincidentally right where Mato was hiding, the boy covering his eyes as he said, "I feel terrible right now. Please don't hate me."

However, despite being in her regular clothes at this time, Mato blushed brightly and ran off. She wasn't sure if she could forgive him for this.

"OH, C'MON!" the boy shouted, groaning as he sighed, looking down and walking to a rock just a ways from the beach, sitting on it and looking on, sadness now taking over.

Alejandro sighed, "Tough luck, I wonder what Neil would be like if he wasn't cursed. I mean he and Mato are so compatible, it's just sad the universe won't allow it at all."

"I usually don't care about the affairs of men," Midori said with a sigh, "But you're right. I'm just wondering if it would be wise to interfere."

"Since I cured you, maybe I should try," Alejandro replied as Midori shook her head remarking, "This is more complicated than my stupor."

Meanwhile, Mato was off in the jungle sitting on a stump in front of a pond, pouting while wining to herself, "Geez! I've forgiven him so many times, but this is the worst thing he's ever done!"

Neil let down tears as he sat on the rock, motionless. Now there was nothing in his life anymore. He had truly blown it.

Midori saw the boy on the rock and let out a sigh, saying, "It looks hopeless. I think the only way for him to get out of his stupor is if Mato forgives him."

"Don't give up hope," Yomaki said, "I know those two better than anyone else. Mato will realize it was an accident and forgive him eventually. Just leave them be."

Alejandro shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Whatever you say boss, but I have to say, it's painful seeing him so depressed. It's like whenever one of us is upset, everyone else feels it."

"At least we're not in a battle now," Midori sighed, shrugging and saying, "Well, Yomaki, you'd better be right."

The day went by as Mato was still nowhere to be found. Now everyone was worried. It was time for dinner with Yomaki treating everyone and Neil was still on his rock while Mato was nowhere to be found.

Alejandro simply wouldn't eat. He just had a sinking feeling in his gut telling him not to, Megumi remaining silent all the while. Kotaha was anxious, keeping her hands busy, worry starting to take over.

Neku simply got up and sighed, "I'm gonna go look for Mato, guys," before walking away from the area. He had to try and set things right, or at least someone had to.

"C'mon, I paid for this," Yomaki said, sipping her long island ice tea before adding, "Anyone who doesn't eat his dinner will have it taken off his paycheque... or hers..."

She then got up and walked over to Neil's rock, handing the boy a plate saying, "I bought you dinner. Now eat it or it's coming off your cheque."

Neil stared at the plate and murmured, "Mato likes eating food..."

Yomaki rolled her eyes and headed off, Neil staring at the plate for some time, picking it up and saying, "I'm going to share my meal with Mato," then got off the rock, placing his hands against the sand and with precise skill and mastery formed a perfect sand sculpture of Mato's head, putting the plate in front of it and saying, "You must be hungry... oh, you forgive me? Oh, that's such a relief..." going back onto his rock and rocking back and forth, singing to himself, "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do..."

All the while, Mato was skipping pebbles in the pond, feeling almost as down as Neil was right now. Neku was headed there, determined to rekindle their friendship.

All the while, Megumi stood up from her seat, frustration on her face. She then marched over to Neil and barked, "You know, I may be upset and annoyed by this too, but nobody's died, we're all healthy and we're on vacation! Now stop being emo and enjoy yourself!"

Neil looked up at her and said, "Hi, Megumi... Mato and I were sharing dinner together... isn't that great? I'm so happy right now..."

Megumi blinked and sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder and replying, "It sure is," faking a smile but knowing someone would have to snap Neil out of his insane state soon.

At that moment, Neil laughed insanely, his body trembling all over as he turned around, saying, "Yes, all is right in the world," then broke out into waterworks, actually crying now. He hadn't cried for real in over 8 years.

Midori, out of concern walked over as Neil turned to face her, whimpering, "Hold me..." Midori's eyes going wide as she pushed Yomaki in front of the boy, Neil embracing her and crying on the front of her shirt, Yomaki sighing and patting the boy on the head saying, "There, there," then looking at the sand sculpture thought, 'Wow, I didn't know the boy was such an artist,' then faked a smile saying, "Mato's enjoying her meal. She's really happy right now," Neil smiling through his tears and saying, "I'm glad..."

Megumi joined Yomaki in wrapping her arms around Neil, hoping this would help while adding, "It's okay to feel lost, but don't worry. Mato loves you just as much as you love her. She'll forgive you."

"Really?" Neil asked, his eyes sparkling as he said, "Yes, of course she does. One day, we'll be married and have 3 children. We'll live in a beautiful house together and never have to fight in our mechs again."

Megumi nodded and asked, "Why don't you go look for her? Tell her how you feel and how sorry you are."

"But..." Neil said, pointing at the head as Yomaki sighed, "Neil, that's sand... you sculpted it yourself... now stop being a baby and confront your issue like a man."

Neil got up, tears still running down his eyes as Midori handed the boy a flower called a Costus, indigenous to Hawaii and said, "Now you're ready."

The boy then went off, tears still in his eyes but a look of confidence also taking over. He was going to meet destiny and punch it in the face.

Megumi smiled at Yomaki before saying, "Well, boss, we did it. We got him back on his toes. Now let's hope he can stay on them."

Neku looked at Mato with concern after finally finding her and asked, "Are you still mad at him?" Mato nodding slightly.

However, at that exact moment, Neil found the spot where they were, tapping Neku on the shoulder with the same serious, tearful expression on his face as he signalled Neku to step aside, walking over to Mato and pulling out the Costus, holding it out for her and saying, "Mato, words cannot describe how sorry I am for earlier. I hope we can still be great friends. You complete me and give me a reason to go forward in life. I don't want this to end because of my own clumsiness. I can understand if you refuse to ever talk to me again, but please consider it," standing there, completely silent after that statement and still holding the flower out.

Neku was speechless before sighing with relief, glad that Neil had mustered up the courage to face his problem head-on, Mato blushing slightly and taking the flower, uttering, "Th-thank you..."

And so Neil just stood there, still silent, not saying anymore as he proceeded to sit down in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders and smiling, a look of compassion in his eyes. This was too tender a moment for him to say any more.

Neku walked away, knowing exactly how this would turn out as Mato leaned forward, closing her eyes and gently pressing her lips up against Neil's. Neil's eyes went wide before closing, the boy holding the kiss for some time. His dream had finally come true and he wasn't going to let it go.

Afterwards, Neil wiped his tears and said, "I love you, Mato," his face turning red as he said, "Whoa, I didn't think I was ready to say that yet."

Mato blushed bright red, not completely believing what she'd just heard as Neil added, ""I mean it. I've been in love with you for god-knows-how-long! I want our time spent together to mean much more than just a ten-year friendship that could never die! I want us to get married one day, live in a beautiful house and have 3 children!"

Mato gasped, replying, "But you're a year younger than me," Neil sighing, "A year doesn't make much of a difference when we're both over the age of 20," his smile returning as he took her hand and sat there with her, enjoying the moment. He didn't want this to end, at least not yet.


	11. Chapter 11

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

No one knew that Mato and Neil had made up yet save for Neku who hadn't returned to the group yet, so the others were still a little down, save for Megumi who was more than confident that things would turn out well. In fact, just for fun, she'd placed a knife flat-side down on Alejandro's head, laughing at it stayed perfectly in place, the man glaring at her.

Midori let out a sigh and said, "I really hope things are going well. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want those two to end up together."

Megumi blinked and replied, "Not sure how I know, but I just know things will turn out well. I also feel something else is brewing than just those two," looking at Alejandro then back at Midori with a smirk.

Midori tilted her head to the side asking, "You mean Weiling and Brad?" a young boy asking, "Weiling likes me!" the Chinese girl socking him on the back of the head saying, "Keep dreaming."

Megumi shook her head and replied, " I guess you could say that, but Mato loves Neil just as much as he loves her. She was embarrassed, yes, but her love for him goes farther than something like that. He's a good guy, cursed, but he has good intentions. She knows he'd never hurt her. Neil just needed a pep talk. It'll work out," the woman smiling, hoping Midori would agree.

After a while sitting with Mato, Neil looked on and said, "We'd probably better head back," his stomach growling as he said, "I sacrificed my dinner to my sand sculpture... yeah... earlier events hit me that hard..." *

As the others were still a tad down in the dumps, Midori looked up and noticed Neil and Mato return next to each other, the woman sighing and doing something she never thought she'd do. She charged right over to the two and embraced them, tears in her eyes, another ultra-rare sight, as she shouted, "OH MY GOD! YOU TWO ACTUALLY MADE UP! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW SCARED I WAS!"

"Was it anywhere near the fear I'm feeling right now?" Neil murmured against the woman's chest as she blinking, laughing nervously and released the boy saying, "Right..."

Kotaha smiled, tears in her eyes while Megumi and Alejandro gave each a warm look. Both were more than relieved to see this. Mato laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head, feeling kind of bad for worrying everyone over such a trivial matter.

"My god, I was really worried the strongest friendship in the world had been destroyed," Jasmine said, wiping her forehead as Neil sighed and replied, "Well, there's more to it than just that..." holding Mato's hand with a smile on his face.

Megumi grinned upon seeing this and gave Midori an 'I told you so' look. Of course, as happy as Alejandro was to see this, he was also thinking about how maybe him and Midori might have a chance now.

Yomaki sighed with relief and gave Mato a noogie while saying, "Now, girl, don't let this distract you from your work. You may do things with him all the time there, but I don't wanna see you to dropping tables while making goo-goo eyes at one-another," then turned to Neil saying, "I'd give you the same advice, but I know you're far too scared of my wrath not to follow it in advance."

Mato let down a sweat drop and remarked, "Alright, I get it..." scowling at her boss.

The others simply laughed as Jasmine said, "So, when can we expect wedding bells?" Neil chuckling and replying, "Maybe within the next few months. You never know. We might need to wait until a proposal is made," Kotaha and Luchi smiling warmly and remembering the day Luchi proposed.

Soon enough, Yomaki bought Neil and Mato replacement dishes for the dinner they'd sacrificed while the others went to the luau taking place tonight. Neil and Mato had decided to stay behind and enjoy their dinner first.

While the others partied it up, Midori reluctantly dressing up in a revealing hula outfit when the other girls pressured her into it, Neil took a bite of his food and looked at the sand Mato head saying, "I didn't even know I had artistry skills. Now if only I could do this in art class."

Mato giggled and replied, "I know... it's so life-like," poking it and adding, "Spooky..." before laughing hysterically, Neil laughing as well. *

All the while, Alejandro couldn't help but stare at Midori in her hula outfit. He knew it was wrong, but it felt so right. She was practically naked. Trying to keep his mind out of the gutter, he took a sip of Strawberry Dachery but this didn't seem to help much.

Midori stood tall and proud shouting, "Alright, everyone, I've been forced to do this, but if I must, I'm doing it my way!" turning to the drummers and shouting, "HIT IT!"

She then started to do the most hardcore hula dance ever invented. Kotaha and Megumi stared in utter disbelief while Alejandro's heart raced every second.

While sitting and finishing his meal, Neil noticed Mato seemed a little sidetracked, not quite as enthused as she usually was. Maybe the sudden confession left her confused. Well, the boy knew exactly what to do.

"Well, we're done," Neil said, getting up with a grin, "Let's join the others before the night ends. Midori's hogging all the fun."

Mato grinned wickedly and replied, "Okay, but how about we bury you in the sand too?"

Hearing this, Neil sighed and asked, "Why didn't I see that coming?" then thought about it and said, "Well, it's been quite a day. Why not?" taking off towards the Luau.

And so the night went by, everyone enjoying themselves as Neil ended up buried in the sand for well over a half-hour, everyone eventually remembering they were supposed to dig him out as Midori ended up attracting a lot of the wrong attention, using Madam Fist to make sure that didn't go anywhere. Of course, Neil didn't get dug out until Mato and Neku had fun drawing a mermaid tail in the sand where Neil's lower body was buried.

During this time, most of the staff members were drinking and enjoying themselves. After all, this was a fun time and they were going to make the best of it.

Neil was also offered a drink as Midori said, "C'mon, you're gonna be a family man soon. Time to start acting like the man of the house," Neil taking a small sip of the alcoholic beverage and spitting it out seconds later shouting, "Now I remember why I don't drink!"

And so the rest of the night went by, everyone going to their hotel suites, Neil with Mato as he slept in the cot on the floor saying, "You can have the bed, dear," giggling like a schoolgirl before adding, "That actually felt really awesome," Mato giggling and replying, "Whatever you say, darling dearest."

Before going to sleep, Neil looked up at the ceiling with a serious expression, deep in thought. But what was he thinking about?

The next morning, everyone was gathered for breakfast as Yomaki once again paid for everyone's meals, the woman turning to Neil and Mato saying, "Oh, almost forgot, since I had to buy you two meals last night, you're both getting 500 yen taken off your paychecks," Neil's jaw dropped as he remarked, "But we were undergoing a crisis!" Yomaki retorting, "No excuses!"

Mato shrugged and replied, "It's just 500 yen," Neil sighing, "You're right, Mato, as always... have I ever told you you're the best?" Mato acting cool while replying, "I'm always right," Neil chuckling.

After taking a few bites of his breakfast, Neil wiped his mouth, knowing he was about to make the rashest decision of his life as he got up from his seat, saying, "Everyone, if you'd take some time out of your meals, I have something I wish to say."

Yomaki looked up as Neil grinned nervously asking, "May I?" Yomaki sighing, "Make it quick."

Strangely enough, no one seemed to know where he was going with this even though it should have been obvious. Mato, Rina and Neku stared in interest while Kotaha, Megumi, Alejandro and Luchi were taken aback by this.

The boy sighed and asked, "First, does anyone have a ring?" a random employee literally pulling one off from around his toe, handing it to the boy saying, "Here ya go," Neil saying, "Thank you," then adding, "As you all know, Mato and I are now a couple. I thought long and hard last night before going to sleep when and where would be the best time and place to pop the question. At first, I figured Mato and I should go on a few dates first, but we've gone out for things so many times, we have been practically dating all these years. So... you all figured out what I'm gonna do next just from my request for a ring, right?"

Yomaki started moving her hand in a 'hurry' fashion saying, "Just say it. We all knew you were gonna before you even started your speech," the others whispering, "I sure didn't," Neil blinking and shrugging before bending down on one knee, presenting the ring to Mato and asking, "Mato, I know this is really sudden, but then again, since when is a proposal not sudden? Will you make me the happiest man alive?"

Everyone was stunned, absolute silence filling the air, Mato's face turning beat red, a big grin forming as she squealed, "YES! YES I WILL!" allowing Neil to place the ring on her finger.

Midori applauded the two while everyone else cheered, Neil smiling and embracing Mato saying, "I promise I'll be the best husband I can be! I'll even try to stop having accidents!" Yomaki remarking, "Don't make promises you can't keep," Neil sticking his tongue out at her.

Later that day, everyone was resting at the beach, Neil sunbathing next to Mato when Yomaki stepped up in front of the group and said, "Alright, everyone, listen up. We're going to go on a little cruise across the ocean," the others looking strangely as the woman pointed to a big boat saying, "Just do it."

By the boat stood two men, one saying, "Welcome, I will be your tour guide JJ and this man here, the one driving the boat, is Panda." *

Neil gulped as he turned to Mato, a nervous grin as he said, "It's funny... I kind of have a fear of the interior of boats..."

Mato beamed and held up sea bands, which were said to prevent sea sickness before replying, "I came prepared."

"You rock," Neil replied, kissing the woman on the cheek and placing his hand on her shoulder, everyone soon boarding.

"We'll have two groups for this trip," Panda explained after everyone boarded and the boat took off, "One is for scuba, which you must be certified for, and the other is for snorkeling, which requires nothing but yourself. Scuba will be with JJ and I'll do snorkeling."

"Wait, we're gonna be going underwater?" Neil gulped as Yomaki whistled innocently, the boy and a few others glaring while the woman said, "If I told you that you had no choice in the matter, you wouldn't have agreed."

Kotaha simply smiled and stated, "I'm sure it'll be okay. The beauty will be break-taking, I just know it," pairing herself up with Luchi for scuba diving, stating that both were in fact certified for it.

"Well, I know who my partner is," Neil replied with a proud grin on his face thinking, 'Oh boy, we're not certified. We have no choice but to snorkel. That means Mato will be wearing her bikini. I've just gotta make sure I don't accidentally pull it off again.'

Alejandro sighed. He had certainly been certified, but he had no partner to go with. No one seemed interested.

Midori noticed Alejandro and sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder and saying, "Alright, don't get the wrong idea. I am doing this merely out of pity, but I wouldn't mind scuba diving with you."

Alejandro grinned and replied, "Hey, I wasn't thinking any dirty thoughts. It's just a friendly past time," the man proving himself to be a rather good liar, surprisingly.

Soon enough, everyone was sent down the holes to the boat, those who were scared of going underwater being threatened with their paycheques into doing it. Mato simply went with it. The truth was she had actually done this before, no one really surprised considering the kind of person she was.

Neil grinned at Mato, getting into his swim trunks almost instantly and asked, "You ready, dearest?" then blinked saying, "I can stop using cliched pet names if you'd like."

Midori and Alejandro were swimming side-by-side as was instructed with the teams, Midori admiring the sights of what the ocean held. Meanwhile, split up into the one group that his other teammates weren't in, Neil swam with Mato by his side, making quick glances toward her cleavage and turning his head away in time not to be caught.

Alejandro was enjoying not just being with Midori, but the sights as well. This was truly incredible.

Soon the 3 days were up as everyone boarded the plane, ready to go home. It had been a fun time, but it wasn't meant to last.

All the while, Aku and his minions were also returning to their hometown as Yae looked through the window, Morrigan sighing, "Are you still going on about that? Look, your sister's a bad guy now. There's nothing you can do about it."

Rayleigh simply zipped up a bag containing children's hair. He was prepared for his plan to take fruition.

Back with the others, Neil all held Mato's hand when the plane hit some turbulence, everyone shaking in their seats as Neil's hand was right up against Mato's vaginal area, the boy's eyes widening with panic. As was expected, despite being engaged to him, Mato whacked him over the head without hesitation.

"Sorry," Neil groaned, feeling his head as Midori looked at this and said, "Mato acts embarrassed, but I think she secretly likes it."

Kotaha smiled and replied, "She probably does. When someone you love deeply touches you in sensitive areas, it feels better than a stranger or family members because you enjoy it. You wouldn't know that feeling, though, would you?"

Midori thought about this and shook her head saying, "I've never loved anyone, so you might be right about that."

Soon enough, everyone returned as Yomaki said, "Alright, everyone go off and do whatever, but remember to come in tomorrow. It's still your work week."

Neil then turned to Mato and asked, "So, did you have a good time? I did."

Mato turned with disbelief and remarked, "Good? A GOOD time?" Neil staring with concern as she beamed, barking, "IT WAS THE BEST TIME!" squeezing her fiance and kissing his neck.

"Well, I can see why," Neil replied, getting into the car, "Not only have I never been to a place like Hawaii before, but the best thing to ever happen to me has," holding up his ring and saying, "And nothing's gonna destroy that."

Mato smiled and replied, "I hope not," then turned to Neku asking, "Want a ride home, Neku-Chan?" Neku jumping slightly before replying, "No, that's okay. I'll leave you lovebirds alone for a while," walking off with his sister.

"Wonder what that was all about," Neil replied, shrugging and saying, "Just because we're engaged doesn't mean he can't hang out with us."

Meanwhile, Kotaha and Luchi headed home hand-in-hand. Alejandro, on the other hand, decided to check up on Pawnchessmon. Yeah, going to 'work' on his day off... what a way to live.

All of the mechs in the room seemed bored, having been waiting three days for their owners to return. Seeing Alejandro made Pawnchessmon boot up instantly, gazing at the man as if to imply a smile.

All the while, Aku held a meeting with his soldiers as he sighed, "Okay, guys, I must admit, I have been far too down in the dumps as of late. I just need to accept the fact that my daughter is dead. Okay, with that out of the way, I feel it is now time to get back on track. As such, I am going to launch a full-scale assault on the city. No holding back!"

Jason grinned wickedly saying, "It's about time!" Morrigan sighing, "I thought we'd never get back to the battlefield," Yae looking down as Nathan jumped joyously, clapping his hands together as Aku shouted, "Yae!" the girl looking up as the man stated, "I am entrusting Firamon with you! Don't let me down."

Yae let out a sigh and replied, "Yes, master. Thank you very much."

Rayleigh simply slumped in his chair, rolling his eyes and sighing, "Such uselessness," knowing his plan was far better than Aku's.

As Neil was dropped off home, he waved at Mato and said, "See ya tomorrow, sweetheart," blowing the woman a kiss, Mato blushing deeply while driving off.

Soon enough, the next day came as everyone was finally back to work. Yomaki gave everyone their orders and said, "Oh, Mato, for once, I want you to help someone who isn't Neil since he hates this job," Neil looking up as the woman asked, "Can you and Midori set up a 16 by 24 stage?"

Mato nodded, happy to oblige. After all, it was her job to do as she was told.

Midori grinned and said, "With the way you and Neil always do stuff together, I never thought I'd get a moment alone with you."

Meanwhile, Neil had been assigned to vacuum a room as it was the one job in the entire building that could he could handle alone. Even carrying a four foot table had always been a pain for him.

All the while, Midori and Mato carried a stage top toward the base as the woman asked, "So, give me all the details. How many months until the wedding and what kind of dress are you going to wear? I wouldn't normally be interested in the joining of a man and a woman, but it is you two after all."

Mato winked and replied, "The kind of dress is a surprise," then added, "As for the wedding day, we haven't planned that far ahead yet."

"Awwww," Midori replied in disappointment, grinning and saying, "This must be so exciting for you. I must say, I admire your patience with Neil. I don't think I could ever bring myself to marry someone with his curse," Mato shrugging and replying, "Well, he is cute."

Midori laughed and replied, "I guess you could say that."

Soon enough, it was shower time as Neil entered, saying hi to all the girls who waved to him, Jasmine jokingly saying, "Hey, maybe you and Mato should shower together," Neil's face turning red as he said, "Uh... I'm not sure if honey would approve of that or not."

As Neil entered the stall next to Mato's, Midori laughed and said, "Oh, come on, you two may as well shower in the same stall. You could consider it training for when you live together!" Neil remarking, "I don't see you getting after Kotaha. She was engaged before I was," Midori saying, "True, but her fiance doesn't work with her," Kotaha blushing a bit.

After everyone had their shower, the alarm started to go off as Neil sighed, "Oh right... we're fighting a mech war... I was enjoying myself so much I almost forgot..." then headed over to Agumon who quickly opened up, the boy climbing in and saying, "Well, back to my pay-less job... goody."

The others followed soon after, Mato noticing Neku was rather quiet while entering Wormmon. This caused her to worry a bit but she then decided it was nothing while climbing into V-mon.

Midori climbed into Monodramon with a grin as she shouted, "HELLS YEAH! Mommy missed you, mechy," as Neil blinked, not sure whether to question this or not.

Kotaha and Alejandro chuckled at his while climbing into their own mechs. As unfortunate as the circumstances were, it was rather exhilarating to be going back into battle after four days of nothing but peace and quiet.

Notes: *1) This is where the RP got a little painful as the one writing for Mato seemed to have trouble keeping her, well, interesting. I partly blame this on the fact that she had a week-long vacation at this point and was probably a tad out of it when she came back, so I'm not upset with her or anything. In fact, I had to 'inspire' some of the moments where Mato was still acting like her usual self. It started to pick up after a while, but yeah, I'm gonna be adding a few bits to keep her interesting.

*2) And this is just one of those moments I added purely to keep her from becoming boring

*3) This particular bit was the writer for Kotaha, Megumi and Alejandro's idea. Turns out those are the actual names of her tour guides when she did this on vacation once.


	12. Chapter 12

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

As the group entered the city, they were greeted by an army of Tentomon and Vilemon models, Neil sighing, "Do they really think we're too weak to stand up to these?"

"Don't count on it," Midori replied, "You know their generals aren't far behind."

With that, Monodramon quickly mowed down a series of Vilemon with its drill fingers, Agumon taking down Tentomon models with pepper breath.

V-mon knocked down various Vilemon like bowling pins with his fists and head, Mato squealing with delight now that she could do this again. Wormmon, meanwhile, caught a series of Tentomon models in his net, rendering them immobile.

Pawnchessmon started shooting from his spear gun, the Vilemon dwindling in numbers as a result. Lalamon, meanwhile, paralyzed some of the mechs with her acid attack while Kotaha beamed with pride. Sure, she may have had a baby coming, but she wasn't afraid of protecting the town. *

At that very moment, a large bug swooped in, catching Agumon in between its pincers as Neil said, "Well, nice to see you using more of a strategy this time around," Jason remarking, "You don't seem all that terrified," Neil replying, "I got an engagement ring. Let's just say it's built up my self-esteem," Agumon quickly changing into Greymon and using its massive hands to pry the pincers off of him, hurling Kuwagamon into a wall.

The Devimon mech emerged from the shadows behind V-mon, striking it in the back with its claws as Morrigan shouted, "IT'S PAYBACK TIME!"

Mato's eyes went wide in panic. She had not seen that coming. And seeing this, Neku stared with concern, still distracted by the minions as he felt like he should rush in and help.

"GET AWAY FROM MY FIANCE!" Neil spat, hitting Devimon hard with a flame as the Devimon mech acted like it was nothing, Morrigan grinning and saying, "Surprise, surprise, I built in some new armour for this baby."

The Devimon mech simply swatted them to the side like flies as Greymon turned to them, folding its arms and pretending to tap its foot, Neil saying, "Greymon, is now really the time to drop hints?" Kuwagamon flying at them.

The one not strategizing was, of course, Nathan who simply had his Kabuterimon rush towards Lalamon, the boy shouting, "REVENGE!" releasing an electric current, Lalamon flying back a bit after being damaged. *

All the while, Midori looked down and glared, noticing a familiar turtle-like mech. As such, her Monodramon became Strikedramon as it swooped down, hitting Zet's Tortomon mech hard in the face, Zet blinking while thinking, 'How did she know I was here this time?'

Alejandro held his breath thinking, 'Midori's fine without me interfering. I'll let her deal with that,' going back to a few minions.

As Midori was about to wail on the mech more, she heard the sound of rockets behind her. Sadly, it was too late to respond as a mech that resembled a lion opened up its head unleashing a set of bombs upon Strikedramon. Midori cried out in pain as the lion mech dove down toward her, trying to take advantage of the situation, Yae thinking, 'Forgive me...'

Seeing this, Alejandro's eyes shot open as he spat, "YOU LEAVE MIDORI ALONE!"

Yae gritted her teeth with a pained expression and mumbled, "I'm so sorry, Midori..." Midori scowling, but before she could respond, the Tortomon mech opened its jaws, looking as if it was going to devour Strikedramon.

Alejandro's determination to save the woman of his dreams came ten-fold as Knightchessmon took Pawnchessmon's place. He was willing to do anything to protect Midori now.

"Back off," he said in a menacing tone, "I'll give you one minute and if you don't comply, I'll kill you."

Mato and Neku saw Midori in trouble as well, shouting, "LEAVE MIDORIN ALONE!" V-mon and Wormmon quickly becoming XV-mon and Stingmon. But it didn't end there as something strange happened quickly afterwards.

At that moment, Stingmon's body split apart, the others staring in confusion as its chest soon went over XV-mon's head, descending past said spot, XV-mon holding up its arms and allowing it to latch to his body like a vest. Stingmon's hands also latched themselves to XV-mon's, posing as gloves for the mech. Of course, the thigh guards also performed the same function for the dragon-like mech, two guns protruding out of the side of Stingmon's lower body. His face also released a red object in the middle, the object expanding into a battle mask as it latched to XV-mon's face.

Everyone was in shock as Mato and Neku were riding next to each other in the same cockpit, Mato grinning and saying, "Fancy meeting you here," Neku nodding and replying, "Likewise," the two looking up the data on their new mech, discovering it was an Ultimate known as Paildramon.

Neil stared, his jaw dropped as his eye twitched, Jason stopping his attack to look at this, placing Kuwagamon's arm on Greymon's shoulder saying, "Tough break, man. Your girlfriend just combined with your rival," Neil replying, "Is it really that obvious?"

Morrigan's eyes widened as she shook her head shouting, "NO, I WON'T LET THIS GET TO ME!"

Zet shrugged and said, "Whatever," closing Tortomon's jaws in on Strikedramon, Midori shouting, "THANKS FOR THE HELP, BUT ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING NEXT TIME!"

Yae realized that Midori was being taken care of as she tried her best to ignore what her ally was doing and turned toward Knightchessmon, charging at him with her mech raising its claws.

Alejandro attempted to strike back when suddenly, the mech burst into flame, Yae's Firamon also striking him hard.. Knightchessmon powered down as a result, making things even more complicated as Alejandro blacked out.

Paildramon charged at Tortomon shouting in a combination of XV-mon and Stingmon's voices, "STING STRIKE!" extending the spikes on his wrists into lances and striking the tortoise hard.

The mech started to sputter, electricity coming from it as Zet blinked. All the while, Neil had returned to fighting as Kuwagamon and Devimon held Greymon up, Morrigan shouting, "STOP!"

Mato looked up with anger, about ready to retaliate. She wouldn't let Morrigan lay a finger on Neil. However, she failed to realize what was really going on until what happened next.

Midori had Strikedramon fly over to Knightchessmon with concern as she turned to face the mechs, Morrigan shouting at Mato, "YOU MAKE ONE MOVE AND YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND GETS IT!" holding a claw over Greymon's head where Neil was seated.

Mato bit her lip, still full of anger as Paildramon hesitated. If she struck, there was no way to guarantee Neil's safety. What could she possibly do?

Neil was about to wet himself when he realized he couldn't allow himself to lose. He couldn't worry Mato like this. As such, the man gritted his teeth shouting, "HOW DARE YOU USE ME AS A HOSTAGE!" Greymon starting to change. Suddenly, his skull helmet flipped itself upside down, adjusting itself so it could still fit on Greymon's head, revealing a silver helmet, the mech's body opening up as a silver chest plate sprung out, the body returning to normal as the chest plate attached itself.. The mech also expanded a bit in size as wings protruded from its back, its left arm going into its body and being replaced by a big silver one.

Morrigan blinked as the mech used its claws to slice Devimon's arm off, Morrigan biting her collar as she shouted, "NOT AGAIN!" the mech proceeding to knock Kuwagamon to the side, opening up its chest and releasing two fish-shaped missiles from its chest, hitting them dead-on.

"Ultimate level, Metalgreymon model," Neil read aloud as he said, "I got an ultimate mech now..." his eyes sparkling.

Seeing as her allies had pretty much been defeated, Metalgreymon making quick work of Kabuterimon, Yae was now terrified as she turned Firamon around saying, "Guys, we'd better retreat," Morrigan pinching her forehead and saying, "Dammit, she's right... I hate you all so much!" the group fleeing from the area.

Unfortunately, one mech that was unable to leave was Zet's, and the others were in too bad of a predicament to have the time to care. As such, Zet opened up his mech and held his hands up, not saying a word as Midori let out a sigh of relief, Strikedramon opening up Knightchessmon's chest, opening up his own as Midori leaped over to Alejandro, shaking him by the shoulders shouting, "WAKE UP! WE'VE WON!" Mato and Neku giving each other a high five.

While Knightchessmon regained power, kicking in panic, Alejandro showed no reaction. He was truly out cold from that blow Yae dealt to him, Knightchessmon still in panic as it started making loud steaming noises.

"Pipe down!" Midori spat, Strikedramon placing a hand on Knightchessmon's shoulder and giving the mech a reassuring look, the woman holding onto Alejandro and saying, "Guys, Alejandro needs medical attention."

Kotaha nodded as she exited Lalamon, Alejandro soon carried to the work place and set down in the hospital area to rest. All the while, Kotaha pulled out her medical bag thinking, 'Neil, Mato and Neku had things under control and yet the moron got himself injured just to try and save Midori.'

Yomaki ordered Kotaha to bring Alejandro home when Midori sighed, "I'd do it myself, but I think my motorcycle would probably be too much for him to handle."

Neil looked at Mato then at Neku and shook his head thinking, 'Don't think like that! She said yes! Don't let this one little thing get to you!'

Kotaha, meanwhile, nodded in response to Yomaki's orders and replied, "I guess I can do that, but Midori might have to be by his side. It might help."

Midori's face turned red as Yomaki said, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Midori, take good care of Alice for me," Midori blinking and replying, "Are you deliberately trying to piss him off?"

Mato and Neku walked over to their boss as Mato said, "Um... our mechs combined into an ultimate level. Can you explain that?"

Yomaki blinked and thought about this saying, "I don't think I've ever heard anything about mechs combining. That's quite interesting," Neil's eye twitching all the while as he thought, 'I wish my mech could combine with hers.'

Kotaha simply looked at Mato to Neil then Midori to Alejandro, shaking her head and thinking, 'Love is blooming.'

Midori hopped onto her motorcycle sighing, taking off. After all, she'd dropped off Kotaha before. She knew where the woman lived.

Meanwhile, Mato hopped into her car along with Neil, smiling at Neku. She was really happy the two were able to work as a team.

Neil placed his hand on Mato's shoulder and gave her a peck on the cheek saying, "You two were great out there," all the while doing his best to hide his envy.

However, Mato saw right through it and grinned deviously saying, "You're totally jealous."

"Me? Jealous?" Neil asked, his eyes shifting back and forth, "What reason do I have to be jealous? I mean, it's not like Neku is the one engaged to y- okay, I wish it was me who could combine with your mech," his face turning red as he buried his face in his hands.

Mato blinked, thinking about this and saying, "You know, I was thinking it seemed strange ours didn't."

Neil sighed with relief saying, "Well, at least we're on the same page," then laughed saying, "My god, I need to stop being so paranoid."

Midori actually beat Kotaha to her house by a little bit as she powered down her motorcycle, sighing as she pulled up, a look of concern on her face. It was as if the company had molded her into a tolerant member of society. She'd hated men up to this point.

Kotaha simply smiled and said, "Let's get him inside," ex-nurse noticing Midori's expression and asking, "Something wrong, Midori?"

"Well, I'm... worried..." Midori replied, shrugging and adding, "I mean, he is our friend and all. Why would you even ask such a weird question?"

With that, she slumped the man over her shoulders saying, "You shouldn't strain yourself, Kotaha. Remember the baby."

Soon enough, the model was brought inside and placed in his bed as Midori let out a sigh saying, "I'm a little surprised. His mech's taken in worse than claws before," then growling added, "I just can't believe my own sister almost caused our failure!"

Meanwhile, Aku had heard the report as he spat, "THEIR MECHS CAN BECOME ULTIMATES!" then grinned and said, "I think it might be time I challenge Neil to another showdown."

"Well, it's not just that," Morrigan replied, "Two of their mechs are able to combine."

Aku thought about this and said, "Well, unless you can find a way to get your mechs to transform, I don't see you winning any battles with these people. What's more is that they have Zet."

All the while, Yomaki and Megumi were in an empty salon as the lights turned on, Zet tied to a chair. However, as usual, he didn't show any fear. He just kept his usual mellow face.

Yomaki grinned wickedly at the boy and said, "Alright, you're gonna tell us everything you know about Aku and his army," Zet blinking before replying, "You're doing this wrong. You should be shining a single light on me," Yomaki groaning, "I would, but the company doesn't allow us those kinds of lights."

Megumi cocked her head to the side in response to this. How could the boy be so calm about being tied up?

Zet let out a sigh and said, "Well, you have captured me and all. I guess I may as well tell you a few things," Yomaki smiling as the boy added, "Granted you don't expect me to go too far. See, I couldn't care less about you torturing me for info."

Yomaki let out a sigh and asked, "Alright, why do your people want us dead?"

"That's it?" Zet asked, shrugging, "I actually thought you all knew the reason. Well, you might wanna pull up a seat for this one."

Megumi blinked rapidly and replied, "Out with it, man."

Zet cleared his throat and said, "Long ago, the mayor of our city came to your fair city to negotiate a partnership. He figured that since our city was next to yours, the two should be trading partners. When he arrived, he was given the best of treatment. Before he could negotiate, the government decided to let him spend the night in one of the mayoral estate's guestrooms. However, this was all a trap as next morning, he had been arrested for absolutely no reason whatsoever, assuming that this was how your government treated all out-of-towners."

Yomaki blinked, her eyes wide with shock as she turned to Megumi, shrugging at her. Megumi simply looked back at her boss before turning back to Zet and stating, "So, you want to kill us all because of your mayor being arrested. Well, what if we could fix the problem?"

Ignoring the question, he continued, "Luckily, he managed to use his bird speak to have a pigeon send a message to the press about his capture. Word spread quickly and everyone in town wanted to save their beloved mayor. But they knew better than to rush in without a plan. They created unique mechs based off of legendary creatures to combat your people and take back their mayor. However, the mayor knew your people would pursue him and as such, he waged war on your kind. It was just unfortunate that your people had a spy to swipe the blueprints so that the citizens of your city could create their own mechs to fight back. After a long battle, it seemed as if your side had won, but little did you know that we had simply pretended to lose. We played possum until your people forgot about the very existence of the mechs so that we could strike and you'd be completely defenceless."

Megumi lifted and eyebrow before replying, "We're not all like our ancestors. What can we do to fix this?"

"Fix it?" Zet asked, looking up and whistling before saying, "That I cannot answer for even I don't know of it. Your only hope would be to take us down, but your people also forgot where we live."

"Hold on," Yomaki retorted, glaring at the boy, "That story your just told is a load of MOTHERFUCKING BULLSHIT!" her eyes widening, Zet blinking and asking, "Is that supposed to scare me? Also, that's the story we all grew up hearing. I doubt it really is BS."

Megumi covered up Yomaki's mouth, the woman nervously letting out a laugh. "She's just a little jumpy, just ignore everything my senpai just said. I guess her Kohai knows a bit more," the woman remarked, rubbing the back of her head.

Yomaki removed Megumi's hand and snapped, "Now listen here, Zet! I've heard the real story and your people are lying to you! The first part of that story is true. Your mayor did come here and was offered hospitality, claiming that he wanted to negotiate trading rights with our mayor. However, this was all a trick. Your 'beloved' mayor set up a bomb in the building set to blow up after he was done 'negotiating'! Luckily, the secret service managed to find the bomb during the night, rightly arresting your former mayor for his acts against the government! His explanation behind the whole thing was in newspapers for months, the fact that the city had just been built between his city and the neighbouring city that he usually went to. He hated having to cut through our city thus extending his trip to get there, so he decided to blow up our government as a warning to convince us to tare down our city!"

Megumi gasped, backing up as she couldn't bare to watch the two spit out their venom at one-another, pleading, "Yomaki-senpai, calm down."

Yomaki took a deep breath as Zet blinked, saying, "Well, clearly one of us has been misled over the years. But that's of no concern. Do you have any other questions for me?"

"Yeah, actually, where do you live?" Yomaki asked as the boy replied abruptly, "That I can't tell you," Yomaki sighing as Megumi remarked, "We want to speak to your leader, though."

Zet simply remained silent, staring into Yomaki's eyes for a few seconds before the woman had a nervous breakdown, backing up and saying, "Okay, okay, we're done here, but you're going into the dungeon," Zet replying, "Your company has a dungeon?" Yomaki spitting, "SHUT UP!"

And all said and done, Zet was locked away in the area where the janitor's equipment was kept. He simply looked around and shrugged. He'd seen worse.

During this time, Midori was watching over Alejandro while Kotaha simply stared in surprise. She couldn't believe she was actually seeing this. After a while, she got up to get a cloth for Alejandro, leaving the two alone.

Midori stayed at Alejandro's side, feeling the sudden urge to brush her hand up against his hair, lifting up her hand briefly before putting it down, shaking her head and thinking, 'What am I doing?'

Alejandro's eyes flickered open and closed, but he hadn't fully awakened as he muttered, "I'm sorry..."

Midori heard the words and picked up the boy's hand, doing something she never thought she would ever do, placing his hand right up against her chest. She hated being felt up more than anything else on the planet, yet somehow, the feeling of Alejandro's hand against her breasts felt soothing.

Alejandro's eyes flickered again, only this time they became fully open, shooting wide. Was he really seeing what he thought he was?

Midori smiled, seeing the boy awake and sighed, "Thank goodness," then remembered what she had done, lowering her eyes toward his hand and quickly releasing it, her face turning red as she breathed heavily, saying, "You gave me quite a scare... heh..."

He looked up at her and sighed, "I'm sorry for being a burden, Midori... I'll back off..."

"No, it's okay," Midori said with a sigh, patting the boy on the shoulder before saying, "I'm just glad you're okay."

Kotaha returned with the towel, peering into the room and seeing Alejandro was awake. However, also noticing the way he and Midori were interacting, she decided not to enter, knowing that would ruin the moment and figured she'd come back later.

The man reached out his hand, pushing some of her hair out of her face stating, "It was my fault. We tried to protect you. See, we tried to use an attack added by Megumi called Knight's javelin and it failed. We decided to try it, the attack blew up from the inside, smoke and fire everywhere."

Midori patted the boy on the shoulder saying, "Forget it, okay. You're alright, that's all that matters right now."

Alejandro then did something he regretted the second he did it, pulling her close. "Mia Mor," he whispered before his lips met hers. The man kissed her, right then and there. His love burned inside, he'd never loved her more.

Notes: *1) I kind of wish Kotaha's writer could have gone further with this plot point of her being pregnant. It never once hindered her performance in battle or kept her from participating, and that kind of disappointed me. As for why I'm not adding anything like that... I'm just adding to the stuff that's already there. I'm not adding an entirely new plot line.

*2) Honestly, a part of me was really wishing they'd follow my example and have their characters do the same thing in retaliation that mine did.


	13. Chapter 13

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Alejandro couldn't believe what he had just done. He'd just planted a kiss on Midori without much thought.

Midori's eyes widened, her cheeks glowing red as she pushed the man away, raising her hand angrily then sighed, lowering it and saying, "If I slapped you right now, it would be more than self-contradictory," then grinned and held the boy closer, saying, "The only reason I'm upset is because I wanted to do it first," returning the kiss with an even stronger one.

Shock ran through Alejandro as he wrapped his arms around her. It didn't feel as horrible as he would of thought. He was kissing the woman of his dreams, such sweet poison.

After a few seconds, Midori let go, took a deep breath and said, "Well, look at that. I've fallen for a man."

Alejandro smiled wide and replied, "In my wildest dreams, I never would have thought this would happen. I at least hope I'm not dreaming," Midori laughing and playfully pinching Alejandro to prove that he wasn't dreaming.

Alejandro simply laughed, "Alright, you got me, but really, having you as my new girlfriend is truly amazing."

Midori growled seductively, pinning Alejandro to the bed saying, "You know, it is getting rather late and I assume you and I are both virgins. There's no one else I'd rather do it with."

Alejandro laughed nervously and replied, "Look, that might be going too far a this time. We might want to wait, first, and if this made you sick, I'd never forgive myself.."

"That's sweet of you," the woman replied as she gave the man a peck on the cheek saying, "I was partly kidding just to mess with you, anyway."

Meanwhile, Neil was sitting around his house when he sighed and looked at his phone, reaching for it and dialling a long-distance number. He hated doing this.

"Hello?" came a voice from the other end as Neil said, "Hi, Mom."

Neil listened to his mother make a scene about how he'd finally decided to call after what felt like a year and when she was done, he explained how he was now engaged. Naturally, his father was more than supportive of this, his mom giving him all kinds of tips and advice while his brother and sister couldn't believe he was the first kid in the family to get married.

And that was that for the day. The next day, everyone arrived at work as Yomaki said, "Midori, Neil, Mato, Neku, Kotaha and Alex Kidd, I need to discuss something with you," Alejandro scowling and remarking, "Again with the Alex thing..."

As the group entered another room, Yomaki sighed, "Okay, guys, I have now figured out why we are referred to as the bad guys. It seems that someone wherever they live is filling their heads with some garbage that we wrongfully arrested their mayor for a crime he didn't commit when we all know he did."

Megumi simply shook her head and sighed, "Such a long story how we got this info, but we got it now."

"So that's why my sister joined those lowlifes!" Midori spat, angrily punching the wall as Yomaki said, "Easy there. If you break that, it's coming out of your pay."

"Well, have you found out where they live?" Neil asked, "Honestly, I'd like to put an end to all of this. I mean, Mato and I are getting married in 3 months and I don't want to die before that happens."

Midori's eyes sparkled upon hearing that as Neil gave her a scared and confused look. Why did Midori care so much about that? However, this was quickly dropped in favour of further discussion of the matter at hand.

Kotaha stated, "The facts are, we could try it in a discussing manor or with a fighting method. Now discussing may sound more mature for a bunch of people in the twenties and thirties. Yet, fighting sounds more logical due to what we've seen with the corporation we're up against."

Alejandro put his hand up to his chin, adding "Although fighting may be risky. If we attack them head on they might be expecting it and gang up on us using all ultimate or mega mechs against us. We only have three mech's at the moment who can reach the ultimate level and two of them combine to make one."

"Battle tactics will be discussed later, but yeah, Kotaha's right," Yomaki replied, blinking and saying, "Somehow I never pictured you as the one who'd see the whole battle or not thing my way. I don't know why. Anyway, until we find out where they are, we're just gonna have to keep fighting them off. Oh, as for your work today, Neil, Mato, I want you to load a few chair dollies and return them to the back. Kotaha, you help the others with whatever they're doing as usual, Midori, Ali Baba and Neku, you three will set up a dance floor in Salon 8. Afterwards, there's not much else to do today, so just dog it until your shower break." *

"What does that mean?" Midori asked as Neil replied, "It means we get to hide from Yomaki and give ourselves an extra break so she doesn't have to give us more work."

Alejandro tried to ignore yet another mistake with his name and nodded with a smile. A seemingly small task followed by an extended break issued by Yomaki herself? That sounded pleasant.

Kotaha simply went to the kitchen to perform her own duties as Mato beamed at Neil and squeaked, "Come on, let's go push us some chairs!"

After performing their task, Neil and Mato were now alone in the back room as Neil let out a sigh, saying, "Say, Mato, seeing as we're alone together, I was wondering something. I wasn't sure whether I should ask this or not and I can't help thinking it might be a little awkward."

Mato blinked, staring in confusion before remarking, "Just spit it out. Don't be afraid to tell me this stuff."

"Feel free to say no, but well, here goes," the boy sighed, "All those times in the past when I felt your chest, it was always an accident and I would always get hit for it. But I figured since we're now officially a couple, I was wondering, may I feel your boobs without getting hit?" then his face turned red as he laughed nervously saying, "Sorry, sorry, forget I asked. That was a stupid question."

However, much to the man's surprise, Mato's face turned beet red as she smiled sweetly, replying, "No, it's okay... one little poke won't hurt."

Neil's face was even more red, his face tensing up as he held up his hands, gulping. This was one of the happiest moments in his life and yet he wasn't sure if he could muster up the guts to do it. After a few seconds of contemplating with himself, he finally did it, placing his hands gently against the woman's chest and giving a light squeeze before removing them, breathing heavily and wiping sweat off of his forehead saying, "Thank you, angel from heaven," Mato smiling brighter and saying, "Actually, it feels pretty good when it's not an accident."

Neil's eyes sparkled as he asked, "Really?" looking down at his pants before shouting, "COME ON, YOU'RE RUINING THE MOMENT!" covering up the spot before beaming at Mato and stating, "You know, Mato, you really are the best thing that's ever happened to my life. I don't think I would have ever known true happiness without you."

Unlike the chairs, the dance floor was taking a bit longer as Midori was performing a dance number to kick the tiles into place singing, "These feet were made for stomping and that's just what they'll do!" noticing the others doing next to nothing as she lowered her eyelids and said, "Hey, Neku, why don't you stop looking like you're high on drugs and help?"

Neku let out a sigh and remarked, "Alright, alright, I'll help," before working on the dance floor a bit harder than before and muttering, "Noisy woman..."

Alejandro simply looked at Midori than Neku and shook his head. He was hoping this tension between co-workers wouldn't last.

It poured outside, and in front of the mecha base stood a young child. His brown hair stuck to his body. He sobbed, the child soaked as he howled in agony, tears streaming down his cheeks. Little did anyone know that this wasn't a six year old boy, but a forty year old transformer having taken the form of a six year old.

Yomaki heard the sound coming from outside, remembering that everyone else was off doing their own thing, walking over to the door and opening it. Seeing a child there, she looked back and forth thinking, 'No, no, no!' then smiled sweetly asking, "Hello, little boy. Where are your parents?"

The boy looked at her, sniffling and replying, "I don't know..." looking at her with big moonstone eyes.

Yomaki flinched at the sight of that, gritting her teeth and thinking, 'No, Nico Robin Vencessca Mobessca Yomaki, don't fall for his childish charms!'

After a few seconds, she sighed, thinking, 'Here it comes,' a big cute compassionate smile on her face as she said, "Well, don't stand out here in the rain. Come inside. I'll make sure you're taken care of," leading the boy into the building.

The boy made a soft whimpering sound, but decided to trust the woman as he took her hand. Little did Yomaki know she'd fallen right into a trap.

Yomaki then looked at her watch and said, "Well, break time. Better go find out where everyone's hiding so they can have their showers," looking at the boy and adding, "You can follow me," a sweet smile on her face.

Hearing this, the boy looked up at her and wiped his tears, giving her an 11,000 watt smile. Yomaki big her lip, trying her hardest not to laugh at the overbearing cuteness. This was just too much.

"What's wrong, Miss Nice Lady?" the boy asked with a more normal smile.

Yomaki simply shrugged and said, "Nothing," leading him into the back room saying, "I know this is where Neil is. He hides here all the time."

She was shocked to see both Neil and Mato enjoying a passionate kiss, the woman snickering and saying, "Oh, wow, not even married and you're already sneaking make out sessions," Neil releasing the woman and shouting, "HEY, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM, WOMAN!" Mato blushing madly, Yomaki laughing and saying, "It's time for your break, man."

The kid trembled after hearing Neil yell as Yomaki simply laughed at this and smiled at the kid saying, "Look at the funny man, overreacting to everything," as Neil looked down at the kid, blinking and replying, "Whoa, I didn't know you were married."

Yomaki then pointed at Mato and said, "If you're done making out with your fiance here, you can make out in the shower," Mato scowling at Yomaki, Neil shaking his head and saying, "It's still too early in our relationship for that," Yomaki shaking her head and saying, "You are such a wuss. And also, this isn't my kid."

However, while the kid form seemed happy, inside the kid's head, Rayleigh lay in wait thinking, 'No, no, NO! This isn't it at all! These two aren't lonely! Where's my real target?'

As Neil and Mato walked off toward the shower room, Yomaki then started seeking out everyone else. Eventually, she found everyone before reaching the area where Neku, Alejandro and Midori were, saying, "Alright, hit the showers," Midori grinning and whispering to Alejandro, "Someday, you might get to see me undressed, but not yet."

Alejandro got chills of both joy and nervousness from the very thought of that, blood trickling down his nose. He then bashed his hands against his head, trying his hardest not to think of that.

However, the kid wasn't paying attention to any of this. He was focused on what each one was like. Seeing a strong connection between Midori and Alejandro, he knew they were poor choices. But then he saw Neku and could just feel the darkness in the boy's body. Neku had a tragic past, was so far the one on the team who got the least attention and even his mech seemed to be the least useful when it came to combat, only being truly great when combining with another stronger one. He was perfect.

While in the shower room, the girls all smiled at Neil and Mato as he groaned, "Again, we're not showering in the same stall," Midori replying, "Oh, we're over that. We just want to see you touch Mato's naked boobies," Neil's eyes going wide as Mato majorly blushed, retorting, "GOD FORBID!" quickly drying herself and putting on her clothes, storming out of the room.

"Thanks..." Neil remarked sarcastically, sighing and exiting as well, rejoining Mato and saying, "Geez, you'd think they'd have standards and respect for privacy. I'm sure half of them must be married."

Mato nodded and replied, "I know! Don't they know it's too early and public to do such an erotic thing?"

Neil then kissed Mato's cheek and said, "It's alright, though. I don't want to do such things yet."

Soon enough, it was time for more dogging as Neil sat with the others, sighing, "Good god, it's days like this I actually wish we had work to do," Midori grinning wickedly and saying, "You know, you and Mato could make out. We promise not to interrupt," Neil glaring and saying, "You already went too far with the naked boob touching suggestion. Quit while you're ahead," Midori laughing and replying, "I'm just teasing!" the smiling at Alejandro, she added, "By the way, Alejandro has something to share with you."

Alejandro blushed a bit before replying, "Well, last night, the two of us clicked and, well, we're a couple now."

Neil stared, wide-eyed, asking, "Mato, honey, can you smack me to make sure I'm not dreaming?" Mato nodding and smacking Neil hard in the face, the boy replying, "Thank you."

Midori laughed saying, "Wow, Mato, you obeyed that command without a second thought. You guys really do have something special. Although I think we got something specialer," rubbing Alejandro's chin and kissing him for a good 10 seconds.

Mato went blank for a second and asked, "Neil-Chan, my darling, can you smack me to make sure I'M not dreaming?" Neil wimping out for a moment and sighing, "Sure, honey," smacking her lightly without going overboard and saying, "Sorry, did that hurt too much?"

"Is it really that baffling?" Alejandro asked as Neil replied, "Well, I thought Midori hated guys," Midori sighing, "Well, this one's an exception."

"Are you sure?" Mato replied, "He didn't bribe you or anything?"

Midori laughed and said, "Well, to be perfectly honest, there's a reason I would have rather not dated a boy before," Alejandro staring with curiosity.

"Tell us," Neil said as Midori sighed, "Well, if you must know, growing up, I used to like boys. Girls never wanted to talk to me because I was too unlike them. However, when I developed a good pair of boobs, guys saw me less as a friend and more as a sex object, using every opportunity to cop a feel. I started to distrust men, only showing compassion toward those who needed it. Well, Neil helped me realize not all men are perverted freaks as he never meant to do perverted things and, well, Alejandro is the only guy who's never really thought of touching me inappropriately without asking."

"I never thought of doing it!" Neil retorted, Midori saying, "Well, you still did it."

Alejandro gave her a backwards look before replying, "Well, I'm glad we helped you change. I'm even more glad that I'm the first guy you've ever shared your heart with," Mato nodding and adding, "It's nice that you changed your heart with Al-Kun," Neku starting to wish he could feel this way himself as Alejandro tried not to be bothered by Mato once again calling him Al.

Midori let out a happy sigh and said, "I'm glad I met all of you guys. This mech thing has been... kinda fun."

Soon enough, it was lunch time as the kid joined Yomaki for lunch, seated on her lap as the woman said, "Kotaha has the best cooking of anyone," everyone staring as the woman said, "He's not my kid."

The boy stared at the food before eating it and smiling saying, "It's really good," Rayleigh all the while trying his best not to let the fireworks going off in his belly distract him from his plans. Kotaha's food really was amazing.

Of course, Alejandro, loving children, couldn't help but ruffle the boy's hair saying, "Hello there," a warm smile on his face.

"That man's name is Alisha," the woman said as Midori sighed, shaking her head while the boss continued, "He's a funny man."

Alejandro ignored his boss' intentional mispronunciation as he stated, "I'm Alejandro. What's your name?" the boy nervously turning to Yomaki before saying, "My name is... Sosuke..."

Yomaki then pointed at Neil and Mato and said, "Those two are Neil and Mato. They're having to make love to each other one day," Neil replying, "Is that really appropriate conversation for a child?" Mato blushing madly and remarking, "Yomaki-San, stop it!"

Then Yomaki pointed at Neku saying, "There's Neku... he's mostly antisocial. You won't wanna try talking to him," 'Sosuke' looking up at Neku with curiosity. He really was the perfect candidate.

"What?" Neku asked at the kid, blushing a bit, "Is there something on my face?"

After lunch, Yomaki looked at her watch and said, "Cripes, I need to check up on something important. This is too dangerous for anyone but me. Neku, since you never seem to do any real work around here, I want you to watch the kid," Neil waving and saying, "Have fun," placing his arm on Mato's shoulder saying, "We're gonna be off dogging it."

"And making out?" Midori asked, her eyes sparkling as Neil remarked, "Why are you so obsessed with that?" Mato crossing her arms and adding, "I'd like to know that too, Midorin."

However, Neku didn't seem okay with this proposal at all, the boy's eyes going wide in fear. He may have had a younger sister to take care of, but she was old enough that it wasn't too difficult. This kid, on the other hand, was six. That wouldn't be easy.

Yomaki was already gone as Midori looked at Alejandro, grinning seductively and kissing him while wrapping her arms around him, Neil narrowing his eyelids and saying, "Just because you're not willing to take it slow doesn't mean we should be like you," before walking off with Mato, Midori giggling as Alejandro sighed, "Come on, Midori, you're amazing, but you don't need to do that."

As everyone else left, Midori laughed and said, "Finally, they're gone. But seriously, are you really so terrified of doing that in public that you can't make the first move?"

Alejandro sighed, "Sorry, Mia Mor, it's just that, well, being an ex-model makes me a little jumpy. You never know when someone could take a photo and share it with the world."

"You have a point there," Midori replied with a sigh, kissing the boy's cheek saying, "You're adorable," ruffling his hair a little, Alejandro then submitting to her desires and giving her a big kiss back.

Neku all the while was in another area, watching over 'Sosuke' with a hint of worry. What could he do to entertain the kid? How did he know the stuff here wouldn't kill him? This wasn't exactly the world's safest environment.

The tiny boy giggled as he reached his tiny hand out, Neku getting the message and holding out his own hand, Sosuke holding his finger. Sosuke then grinned before asking Neku to follow him somewhere, Neku simply agreeing as he saw nothing wrong with this.

Sosuke then took Neku into a dark room, grinning wickedly and saying, "Now close your eyes and you'll get a big surprise," Neku shrugging and doing so, asking, "Alright, what is it?"

Neku was suddenly knocked out by a big club to the back of his head, Rayleigh taking his real form before stuffing the man in a bag. Eventually, Neku awoke to see himself chained against a cold grey wall, Rayleigh having formed back into the child, glaring wickedly at him.

Neku's eyes went wide as he spat, "SOSUKE, WHAT'S GOING ON!" struggling to free himself, the child simply shaking his head and sighing, "Such a pity that a single move was able to take you down so easily," his voice becoming deeper as he added, "I'm your worst nightmare. My name isn't Sosuke, it's Rayleigh," touching his face and becoming the older man again.

Neku glared furiously shouting, "You dirty little bastard!" Rayleigh laughing and remarking, "You were such an easy target. You are barely noticed or even needed most of the time, so I could take advantage of you with ease. Morrigan should be here soon," ripping off a hunk of Neku's hair as he cried out in pain, Rayleigh placing it in his pocket.

But how had a member of the opposing army found them so easily? Let alone that fact, how had Morrigan gotten into their base undetected?

Notes: *1) A dolly is actually a term used to refer to a big hand cart/hand truck if you will for carrying around certain things such as chairs, tables, stage tops or stage bases. As for why I keep using this terminology, I work in a place that requires me to use all this stuff, so I'm using real life experience for this.


	14. Chapter 14

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

This was terrible. Neku had been tricked by Rayleigh, chained up and had a bit of his hair taken. To make things even weirder, Morrigan was supposed to be joining the two soon.

As expected, Morrigan arrived and said, "Wow, Rayleigh, you really are amazing."

"Maybe so," Rayleigh replied with a shrug, "but the weaker the zebra, the easier it is for the lion to kill it. Even a first grader could figure that out. Now do what you want to him, I'm ready to destroy the others."

Morrigan let out a sigh and said, "Well, Neku, I don't really have any personal quarrels with you, but if I must take my anger out on someone, well, it's convenient."

Neku's eye twitched as he asked, "What do you want from me?" Rayleigh laughing and replying, "Why, your form of course," the man swallowing one of Neku's hairs and changing into an exact duplicate of him, Neku shouting, "HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!"

"I am a shape shifter and taking a sample of your DNA such as a hair can give me the ability to take your shape," the man said, pulling a bottle of beer from his belt and taking a swig.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded throughout the building as Morrigan grinned saying, "Say, I believe that's your cue to hop into your mech, 'Neku'," Rayleigh grinning and replying, "Sounds good to me."

As the others boarded, Neil sighed, "Goddammit, I finally get some alone time that doesn't involve work... Mato, when this is over, do you wanna go out for dinner or something?"

"Oh, we can double-date," Midori said, hopping into Monodramon.

Alejandro blinked and replied, "But wouldn't it be more fun if we went to different places? I'd rather be alone with you than have two others around."

Meanwhile, Rayleigh looked over the mechs and asked, "Which one's mine?" looking over the various mechs.

Mato noticed 'Neku's' confusion and blinked before replying, "Hey, Neku-Chan, Wormmon's over there," pointing at the green worm mech, Rayleigh nodding and replying, "Oh, yes, Wormmon, of course. Sorry, Mato, I'm all sorts of out of it and all that today," thinking, 'Really? Of all the mechs, I'm piloting a freaking Wormmon?'

Neil shrugged as the mechs took off, Nathan out on the job today with Morrigan shortly joining him asking, "Did I miss anything?" as the kid shook his head replying, "Those idiots haven't shown up yet! I'm getting bored!"

With that, the group headed out, marching toward the battlefield, Alejandro now confident that Knight's Javelin would work this time. However, with the number of enemies significantly lower this time, it seemed like the battle would be easier.

Mato grinned, turning to Neku and asked, "Say, Neku-Chan, wanna combine again? I'm sure Paildramon will kick lots of butt," Rayleigh putting on a fake smile and replying, "Sure, sounds good," thinking, 'I stand corrected. I made the best choice ever.'

Seeing the group Nathan gritted his teeth and asked, "Morrigan, why did you ask me to come without the others?" Morrigan replying, "You're the only one rash enough not to question it. Besides, I got a plan that'll end them for good. I just needed you to lure them out."

With that, Agumon became Metalgreymon, Neil saying, "Hey, that was quicker than usual, Agumon!" the mech nodding and giving his visor thumbs up, Neil giving thumbs up back while the others became their Champion levels.

"This plan had better be good," Nathan said with fear, certainly a rare thing coming from him, "Without my allies, I'm not as enthusiastic as I'd usually be."

When Wormmon became Stingmon, Rayleigh's eyes went wide, the man rather impressed by this specimen of a machine. It went from pathetically weak-looking to amazing just like that, and this thing had a combined form? Even better.

Mato looked at Rayleigh muttered, "Well, never have I seen anything this cool..." the girl asking, "Did you say something, Neku?" Rayleigh coughing and replying, "Nope."

Morrigan nodded and said, "Alright, now the mechs themselves are the ones that decide whether or not to Digivolve. Give them a reason to."

"Easier said than done, but I'll do what I can!" Nathan shouted, pressing a button as his Kabuterimon released an enormous shock wave, hitting the mechs as his eyes went wide, Morrigan grinning and asked, "I installed it yesterday. Ya like it?" Nathan's eyes sparkling as he squealed, "I love it!"

This was more than enough to get Stingmon and XV-mon to combine, Rayleigh grinning and laughing wickedly. This couldn't have been more perfect. However, while Morrigan and Rayleigh were pleased with this, Nathan was terrified with no clue how this could be seen as good.

Suddenly, things got really bad as Paildramon's body started to match its outer armour in colour: black. Paildramon's eyes also turned a brighter shade of red as Morrigan grinned saying, "Jackpot," Neil staring and asking, "Uh... what's going on?"

Alejandro and Kotaha stared in absolute shock at this, Midori asking, "I forgot, is it supposed to look like that?" Rayleigh laughing maniacally and shouting, "YES, I GOT FULL CONTROL NOW!"

"MATO, HONEY-BUNCH, WHAT'S GOING ON!" Neil spat with fear, Midori asking, "I'd like to know that too."

Mato stared at 'Neku', blurting out, "I have no idea! Neku-Chan, what's going on?" grabbing him by the collar as the man simply pried her hand off, pushing her to the side retorting, "Quit crying and leave! It's dangerous! I'll try and fix it!" Morrigan knowing he was lying but not the others.

Mato stood silent for a while before nodding and replying, "Alright, but one quick question: who are you?"

"Why, I'm Neku, your co-worker and friendly friend-friend," Rayleigh replied as Mato spat out, "Liar! Neku-Chan's different than that! The Neku-Chan I know is passive, but kindhearted! He'd never give me harsh orders!" With that, the woman gave the fake Neku a big smack in the face.

Rayleigh watched as Paildramon screeched and took Mato's hand, pushing the woman out of the mech, flying it over to Morrigan's side while stating, "Mistress, phase 2 is now complete!" Neil having Metalgreymon grab Mato and save her from falling, Neil sighing with relief.

Morrigan laughed wickedly as Neil growled, saying, "Metalgreymon, let Mato inside," the mech nodding and letting the girl sit next to Neil despite the fact that there was only one seat, so naturally, it did feel a little cramped, but not too much.

"This isn't good," Midori said, "Paildramon's stronger than even Metalgreymon. We might all need to be ultimate if we want to stand a chance at defeating it and those other 3."

However, the mechs didn't seem to think so as they remained in their champion levels, Morrigan and Nathan holding most of them back while Metalgreymon soon found himself tied up by ropes attached to the spikes coming from Paildramon's wrists. Then again, it wasn't like the others had reached ultimate yet.

However, Alejandro was fully confident as he spat, "ALRIGHT, WE'RE GONNA TRY IT NOW!" Knightchessmon rearing his hooves as a cannon of spikes and explosives came from the mech, Knightchessmon shouting, "KNIGHT'S JAVELIN!" opening fire.

With that, Morrigan's eyes went wide as the attack caused both Devimon and Kabuterimon to explode, both pilots flying off with jet packs as Morrigan scowled, shouting, "RAYLEIGH, YOU'D BETTER FINISH THE JOB!"

Rayleigh simply laughed, fully confident that he could as Paildramon proceeded to reel Metalgreymon in, ramming his elbow hard against the dragon mech before using the guns on his hips shouting, "DESPERADO BLASTER!" shooting multiple bullets at Metalgreymon, dealing considerable damage.

Sunflowmon sent a beam toward Paildramon only for the mech to easily dodge it, sending bullets into the sunflower mech as well. Strikedramon attempted to hit Paildramon only to be easily blocked, Paildramon using his energy stinger to strike the dragon mech across the chest, putting a big cut in it.

Needless to say, Knightchessmon didn't have much luck as when Alejandro had him rush in to help Midori, Knightchessmon was easily blocked by the Sting Strike, Paildramon firing a bolt of electricity from his hand into the knight's face.*

Mato let down tears before shouting, "PAILDRAMON, STOP!" the mech hearing her words and stopping his attacks. Seeing this, Metalgreymon took full advantage, striking the combination mech hard with his claws.

Rayleigh flipped back in his chair, rubbing his nose as he started jabbing on controls, shouting, "Why won't it work! Goddammit! Guess I'll have to use the dark spark plug." The man placing a plug into the mech's data stream. Paildramon made noises of pain as it became all black and was forced to have to follow Rayleigh's orders for good.

Megumi had been seeing this from a window, her eyes wide as she gasped, running to a drawer and pulling 3 upgrade USB keys. She then ran out of the building, throwing one to Strikedramon, Sunflowmon and Knightchessmon.

Alejandro grinning as he put his in, Knightchessmon now bursting with power. His horse torso soon tucked itself inward, becoming a pair of legs again, two big square-shaped components jutting out and covering the hooves. Armour resembling a robe of sorts came down from the mech's waist, covering most of his lower body as soon, his arms were covered in a similar material. A cape then flew out of his collar, attaching itself to his neck as a long metal portion covered his front middle section, his spear now looking more like a staff. He had become the ultimate mech, Bishopchessmon.

Kotaha did the same as Sunflowmon also underwent a big change. The sunflower pedals went back into the side of her head, soon replaced by an upside-down flower bud atop her head, her head soon replaced by a more human-like one without a nose. Green strands representing half also appeared as her body became thinner and a lighter shade of green, looking more like a human woman's body. Her arms sunk into the holes for them, soon being replaced by long pink ones with white metal water lilies on the end, her legs undergoing the exact same change. She had become Lilamon.

Midori did the same with Strikedramon as suddenly, a grey armour emerged from his back, soon expanding and climbing up his back before covering the entire back section, moving onto the front and doing the same. Two blades also sprung out of his arms as the mech opened up his chest, pulling out a silver mask and slapping it on his face, red wings jutting out of his back. He had become Cyberdramon.

Midori grinned before saying, "Sorry, Mato, but we might have to take Paildramon apart," Mato sniffing, "Just do it! Save him!"

With that, Cyberdramon used one of his arm spikes to strike Paildramon hard as Metalgreymon unleashed a powerful blast from his chest cannons. Bishopchessmon held out his staff, shooting thunder bolts and lightning strikes at Paildramon while Lilamon fired beams from middle of her flower hands.

Rayleigh freaked as Paildramon made a shrieking sound, retaliating with more shots from his guns. The group took in damage but seemed to ignore it as a light started to surround Metalgreymon, Neil realizing it must have been given extra power when Mato joined the man.

With that, the dragon sent a fierce slash to Paildramon's body, cutting through and stabbing Rayleigh with one of the claws, the mech blowing up and separating back into Wormmon and V-mon, their parts falling to the ground in a heap.

Rayleigh was now lying on the ground in a heap, coughing up blood as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The once well-known bounty hunter and shape shifter was now dead. Alejandro gave a sigh of relief as Kotaha held her hand over her mouth, not wanting to look at these results, but was happy things had turned out well. Megumi saw this as a nightmare, not because Rayleigh was dead but because V-mon and Wormmon were in pieces.

Seeing the remains of V-mon, Mato let down tears. At that exact moment, Neku had escaped as he ran outside, seeing Wormmon shattered as he stared in shock.

Neil hugged Mato and rubbed her back saying, "It's okay. If you want, we can go out somewhere, maybe clear our minds, or you can spend some time to yourself. Whatever suits you."

Midori let out a sigh and said, "Well, it's not exactly powder. Maybe Megumi can fix it... I mean, she finally got one of our new weapons right."

Megumi laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head and stating, "I can fix them, no fear! I promise."

Alejandro climbed out of Bishopchessmon as the Digimon reverted to Pawnchessmon. The Latino man kicked at Rayleigh's body with a snicker, taunting, "Dead as a door nail."

Midori then let out another sigh and said, "You know, during that battle, I came to a realization. I figure that since my sister is working for them, maybe the enemy is located in my old hometown."

Alejandro nodded and replied, "That does make sense, but how would you not have been aware of rising evil while you were living there?"

"I don't think anyone would have known about their presence," Midori replied as Yomaki entered the area, nodding and saying, "I heard that this particular group kept themselves hidden from the citizens fearing the government might stop their plans."

Alejandro nodded and replied, "But if we go and Mia-Mor is right about this, they might try to attack the town while we're waging war on them. Then everyone will be in danger."

Mato was listening in on the entire conversation, even wanting to say yes to Neil's earlier question, but she was currently too distracted by V-mon's parts lying all over the place. Neku also looked at Wormmon's remains and growled, "That bastard! How could he do this!"

Looking at the boy, Midori narrowed her eyelids and said, "Hm... this one is showing more fear than the usual Neku... suspicious!" Kotaha sighing, "No, I doubt we'd find another shape shifter like Rayleigh. I'm sure he's just really upset right now."

"But I'm the real one!" Neku retorted, "Rayleigh stole my body and used it for evil purposes! Also, why can't I care about my mech!"

"Well, it checks out," Midori replied, then hugged Mato and said, "There, there, it'll be okay. Megumi will have them all fixed up soon enough. Maybe you should go home and rest," Neil nodding.

"This'll be a long night," Megumi said, holding up her wrench, "I'll have Alejandro help me fix them," the Latino man trying to sneak away upon hearing that.

Neku was silent for a moment before spitting out, "I-It's all my fault!" Mato jumping slightly and looking at Neku, "I...I should've known that Sosuke was a no-good bastard...! So blame me! Hit me to your heart's content!" Neku let down tears of rage, waiting for someone to rebuke him and hit him. But Mato hugged Neku and uttered, "You idiot...!"

Megumi laughed and replied, "Cheer up, you two. I will have them fixed up and as good as ever in the morning! Get some rest and have a relaxing night," then grabbing onto Alejandro's shirt, she added, "Uh-uh, you mister psycho six pack are staying and helping me! It is about time I get muscle to help me and you are going to do that!" trying not to laugh as Alejandro sighed, "Working with you all night, such a horror, but I'll do it for Neku and Mato. Good friends they are."

"Have fun," Midori said with a wink as Neil sighed, patting Mato on the shoulder and said, "C'mon, I'll treat you to a fancy dinner if it'll take your mind off of things," Mato nodding and replying, "Okay..."

Later that night, the two went to the fanciest restaurant Neil could think of as he smiled saying, "C'mon, honey, all's gonna be okay. I hope you can bring yourself to enjoy the evening," then turned to the waiter asking, "Can you bring us a box of tissues? For some reason I think we might need it," the waiter nodding.

However, Mato didn't even respond to any of this. Her eyes were blank as she looked out the window, unsure of what to do now.

Neil waved at her and let out a sigh saying, "Please, honey, I don't like seeing you like this."

Mato turned to him and groaned, "I'm sorry, Neil-Chan. I'm just wondering why someone would want to mimic Neku-Chan."

"I don't know," the boy replied, pondering this, "But whatever it is, the problem's solved now."

He then smiled and ruffled the woman's hair saying, "You're so cute, you know that?" Mato blushing slightly and remarking, "You're just flattering me!"

"No, I'm not," the boy replied, "You're adorable," the waiter rolling his eyes and placing the menus on the table saying, "I'll return when you're done swooning over each other.

"Say, Neil-Chan," Mato asked, her spirits starting to return as she grinned deviously, adding, "Are you jealous of Neku-Chan?"

"Well, I was before," Neil replied, "but that's because I thought you were falling for him or something. Now I don't have a reason to be jealous... cept maybe the combining thing... that still gets me..." Mato giving Neil a peck on the cheek and replying, "Don't worry about it, sweetie."

Neil then kissed the woman on the lips as the waiter rolled his eyes. The night went by as the next day, V-mon and Stingmon were not only fixed, they looked stronger than ever before.

"So Rayleigh's dead?" Aku asked as Morrigan sighed, nodding as the man shrugged, "Can't say I remember him from anywhere. But he did manage to get two of the enemy mechs destroyed. That's a nice step in the right direction." Of course, he didn't realize how wrong he was. If anything, Rayleigh had inadvertently made things better with Megumi and Alejandro's help of course.

Mato's eyes sparkled as she hugged V-mon leg, squealing, "Welcome back, V-Chan!" Neku admiring Wormmon's new shine.

Midori whistled and said, "You know what, Megumi, I don't hate you anymore," as Yomaki laughed at the professor's expense before clearing her throat and saying, "Yes, well, back to business. Midori, you were saying something about the enemy being in your hometown."

Midori then let out a sigh and said, "Right, well, I grew up in the city just North from here. The problem is those guys may have more up their sleeve for us. They have minions. We just got 6."

Kotaha nodded, "When you think about it like that you'd be correct. If only we had more."

Megumi smiled and replied, "Yet you need to remember all of your mechs can go ultimate now. They mainly use rookies and champions. Yet six, well, five mechs when you go ultimate may not work well enough."

Neil then nodded and added, "If I'm not mistaken, though, that Rayleigh guy managed to take control of Paildramon rather easily. What if somehow the guys at work can get the other mechs to work with them? Clearly natural selection doesn't apply if one has a strong enough spirit."

Yomaki thought about this and said, "Well, I suppose so, but if your theory is correct, then I'm totally calling the Gaomon model."

After a while, the group decided to give their theory a go as the other employees picked out mechs to work with. After much focus, a great deal of them actually managed to pull it off, finally convincing the mechs to accept them.

"Now we're ready for war," Yomaki said as she turned to Gaomon, placed a hand on his nose and said, "Gaomon, I would love very much to..." the robot dog turning its head away from her as the woman felt offended, Jasmine asking, "Can I use you?" Gaomon nodding and opening up for her, Yomaki letting down tears as the Kudamon model behind her opened itself up out of pity, the manager shrugging and saying, "The rest of you without mechs keep doing your usual work around here."

Megumi clasped her hands together, squealing, "I totally want the Renamon mech!" facing a two-legged fox robot.

Unfortunately, the fox robot glared at Megumi and backed up, seeming as if it was afraid of her as Yomaki laughed and said, "Seems these other mechs have learned a lesson from watching you perform handiwork."

Megumi then looked down, pouting and feeling neglected. Seeing the woman's sad look, the Renamon mech rolled its eyes and opened up, not willing to deal with Megumi's pathetic sob story any longer, Megumi's eyes sparkling as she climbed in.

As the employees got into their mechs, Yomaki let out a sigh and said, "As much as I love being in charge, Midori, this is your home, so you can be the leader," Midori grinning and saying, "Aw, you're too kind," Alejandro adding, "Take it away, Midorin! Lead us to victory!" Mato, Neil and Neku all giving her fist pumps.

With that, the mechs were released as Midori said, "Alright, I hope you all went to the bathroom and that this battle won't make your water break early, Kotaha," the employees all giving impressed whistles as the woman added, "This may be a long one!"

Kotaha simply smiled and gave Midori thumbs up with Lalamon, actually finding the work easy all things considered. Megumi was simply thrilled to be at the controls, finally getting her chance to do what her grandmother had years ago.

With that, the mechs were headed off to war. It was finally time to take down Aku and his army. This had gone on long enough.

Notes: *1) This battle was kind of a let-down in the RP as for some reason, Mato and Neku's writer wasn't fully focused on having Paildramon do more than just capture Metalgreymon. I figured I'd add these paragraphs just to make it seem like they were in much more danger.


	15. Chapter 15

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

As the group was travelling, an alarm in the enemy base went off as Aku's eyes widened, the man shouting, "OH CRAP, THEY FOUND OUT WHERE WE ARE!" Morrigan groaning, "How?" Yae coming in and saying, "Um... well... my older sister was among them..."

"So she came from here..." Aku grunted, "I'm actually amazed it took them this long to figure it out considering that fact... well, Yae, since your sister is among them, I figure you may as well lead the squadron," Yae's eyes wide open. Was this supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

Neil turned to face Mato saying, "Hey, honey, remember, if they attack you, Agumon and I have got your back," Mato winking and replying, "Don't you worry about me. Just cause I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't kick butt."

"True," Neil replied, rubbing his head saying, "I have more than enough past experience to back that up," laughing.

Alejandro simply grinned, holding the controls while pumping up his muscles, hoping that making his fist mightier might help things. Kotaha, despite circumstances as they were, also seemed at ease about all of this and fully confident that they could win.

Midori, however, was surprisingly nervous, not so much because of the battle coming up but rather the fact that she knew she'd end up having to face Yae again. This was going to be hard.

Soon enough, the entire army arrived as many citizens in the city saw the incoming mechs, their eyes going wide as if they'd truly never seen one before. Seeing a whole army come from a nearby government building was even more shocking.

"Alright, don't hold back!" Midori spat, "But if my sister is among them, I wanna be the one to put her in her place!"

All of the mechs digivolved right then and there, the newcomers becoming champions while the 6 main ones became their Ultimate levels. Upon seeing Paildramon, Morrigan's eye twitched as she asked, "Wasn't that thing supposed to be destroyed?"

She shrugged as Yae said, "Uh... everyone... try those new microchips that Aku gave us!"

With that, everyone inserted the chips as their mechs digivolved as well, the minions becoming champions. Devimon's body turned inside-out, revealing the torso of a red skeleton with a metal ball in the middle. The arms also went back into the mech's body, coming out and now matching the new torso more, black leather emerging from the robot's waist and going down, soon covering the mech's lower body like pants, silver boots forming on the mech's feet, the mech pulling a staff out of its mouth and becoming Skullsatamon.

Kabuterimon started to change as well as his torso grew much bigger, flipping inside out to reveal a red body underneath. Two halves of a large metal shell also sprouted from its back, soon coming together to make a full beetle shell, a large pearl coming up through a hole near the top, staying in place. Kabuterimon's helmet also changed as the top of the horn split open to make one similar to that of a rhino beetle. Its hands and feet were also replaced by big blue ones as it had become Megakabuterimon.

Kuwagamon also grew bigger in size, his body also changing inside out and becoming grey with red markings in certain areas. His pincers also reshaped themselves, now looking more like tusks as a second pair of legs came from two holes that formed on his rear end. However, two of his arms strangely left him as now he had two left, but now they were bigger and stronger than before, artificial hair also coming from the back of his head as he was now Okuwamon.

Tortomon easily underwent the biggest change as his neck extended to a considerable height, his shell tucking itself away into his body. Soon, his tortoise body was turned inside out and replaced by that of a yellow brontosaurus with blue stripes around his back, a big horn popping out of his cranium as metal stitches were around his mouth. He had become Brachiomon.

Firamon also changed, now standing on two legs instead of four. His mane became much longer, now looking more like actual human hair as more armour covered his body than before. His build looked a little bit more muscular now as he had become Flaremon, clearly undergoing the smallest change.

Skullsatamon proceeded to fire a beam at Lilamon while Megakabuterimon released a fierce blast from his horn toward Bishopchessmon. Bishopchessmon took the blast of energy but ignored the damage dealt, reacting with a beam. Lilamon also ignored the damage dealt by Skullsatamon's attack and fired metal plants from her hand cannons.

Okuwamon then went for Metalgreymon, both locking blows as Brachiomon fired a series of exploding bubbles toward Paildramon. All the while, Midori glared at Flaremon, Yae biting her lip and glaring at Cyberdramon, both ready to do battle as Midori sighed, shaking her head. This was going to be painful.

Paildramon took in the blow but ignored the damage, responding with the guns on his hips and firing upon the dinosaur. Cyberdramon and Flaremon were both going at it, Cyberdramon striking the lion mech only for Flaremon to respond with a series of flaming kicks and punches.

Unfortunately, things weren't going too well for the others either. Bishopchessmon had fired many beams back at Megakabuterimon, but each time, not only were they countered, but Bishopchessmon ended up taking in another blow from the beetle.

Skullsatamon easily negated the incoming plants and struck Lilamon in the face with his staff. Lilamon tried fighting back by sending a beam into the skeleton's face, but this proved to be not good enough as Skullsatamon retaliated with a beam to her chest.

Paildramon fired more shots, Brachiomon eventually taking in a few of them as Zet sighed, "Well, this seems like a bit of a down-grade," the dinosaur unleashing more exploding bubbles.

Metalgreymon and Okuwamon continued to match blows until the metal dragon opened up its chest cannons, Jason's eyes wide open as Okuwamon blew open seconds later, the man taking off on a jet pack shouting, "CURSE YOU!"

Megakabuterimon started beating its horn hard against Bishopchessmon as Nathan laughed wickedly shouting, "DIEDIEDIE! MUAHAHAHAAHAHA!"

Seeing that Neil had already beaten his opponent, Alejandro refused to let Nathan wale on him anymore as he slammed the controls. With that, the knight mech fired off multiple lasers and rays from his staff.

Megakabuterimon took in the blows as Nathan quickly flew out shouting, "I DON'T GET IT! I FINALLY REACH ULTIMATE AND I STILL LOSE TO YOU FREAKS!"

As Lilamon took in more blows, Megumi wanted so desperately to be useful as she had Renamon, which had become a multi-tailed fox named Kyuubimon, into the battle and spinning around, blue flames forming around her as she charged into Skullsatamon, causing him to back off.

Kotaha saw a perfect opportunity as she grinned, Lilamon pointing her arms forward and unleashing beams from the cannons. This proved too much as Skullsatamon blew up, Morrigan groaning, "It figures..."

Brachiomon continued to fire at Paildramon only for Mato and Neku to finally see a way around this, shooting out the spikes attached to ropes and using them to pop the bubbles open before they could hit the combination mech. They then proceeded to stab Brachiomon in the neck with one of them as an explosion came from it, the mech powering down as Zet took his leave, sighing in disappointment. *

While the others continued, Cyberdramon and Flaremon continued their brawl as Yae grunted, "Midori, why did you join the side of evil!" Midori retorting, "You're the one who's working for evil! These people are trying to take lives that have done nothing to them!"

Alejandro grinned, watching this and saying, "Atta girl. Show them who's the toughest, sexiest chick around."

After dealing blow after blow, Cyberdramon punched Flaremon hard in the face, knocking its head clean off as Yae looked down, saying, "Alright, you win..." the head falling hard against the ground below as the minions started to retreat, seeing their strongest now defeated as the employees cheered.

Alejandro shot his fists in the air shouting, "YES, VICTORY FOR THE JUSTICE TEAM!" Mato sticking out her tongue and lowering her eyelid before taunting, "YEAH, SUCK ON THAT!"

Kotaha simply giggled as she and Megumi gave each other's mechs a high five. Megumi then started doing a victory dance, feeling so happy to have actually partook in this battle.

Midori simply let out a sigh and said, "At least I didn't have to resort to killing..." Yae letting down tears and groaning, "I'm a disgrace."

Neil smiled and let out a sigh of relief. Finally, it was over. However, Neku felt a bit uneasy, like something was off, and that was about to be proven true.

"HEY, DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME!" came a loud, booming voice, the area going silent. Neil's eyes went wide, the man trembling with terror when the Chimairamon mech appeared, Aku fuming and shouting, "I've had it with you! It's time to defeat you all for good!"

However, rather than feeling scared, Alejandro simply smirked and grabbed Bishopchessmon's controls again saying, "Don't count on it. We're much stronger than before."

"But... guys... he's super powerful!" Neil replied with fear down his spine, Metalgreymon's eyes glowing as the man gulped, "You're right... I need to suck it up..."

Kotaha nodded with a smile and stated, "There's no reason to be afraid now. With the whole team at the level we are now, we can beat him."

Mato grinned and stated, "Yeah, we can't lose now," Neku asking, "Ready to put him in his place, Paildramon?" the mech nodding.

However, just as everyone was about to fight back, Aku didn't even bother to showboat like he did when facing Neil. Instead, he simply grabbed each mech and used them as baseball bats to knock the allies away, Aku saying, "I can't allow you to ruin years of hard work. My great father did all he could to turn my people against you."

"Wait, what!" Neil retorted, Midori blinking and asking, "Yeah, mind explaining to us what you mean by that?"

Aku's eyes were wide as even his own soldiers were staring at Chimairamon, Aku's eyes shifting back and forth as Yomaki stated, "Let me guess, the mayor wasn't really framed, was he?"

"ALRIGHT, FINE, I ADMIT IT!" Aku spat, "The mayor, also known as my father came to your city with the intention of blowing it up! He wasn't a victim, he was what you'd call the bad guy! But he had a good reason!"

"I wanted to help this guy?" Morrigan asked, blinking as Nathan said, "Wow, what a douche," Joseph sighing, "Alas, I disgrace myself," Zet simply staring with shock. Yae then let down a tear and thought, 'I also helped that man.'

Alejandro fumed and spat, "I may be confused by all of this, but Aku is clearly the bad guy! Come on, let's beat him!"

However, Aku simply sent a surge of power from the hands of Chimairamon into the other mechs, causing them to power down as he opened up the hatch on Metalgreymon, pulling Neil out and saying, "I'm going to enjoy this," Neil's eyes wide open as Aku spat, "IF ANYONE DARES TO HELP THIS BOY, MY MECH WILL CRUSH HIS HEAD OPEN!"

Kotaha gasped in panic, Alejandro staring in shock as both shouted, "NEIL!" Midori gritting her teeth at the sight of this. What a cheap tactic.

Neil let down tears as he said, "Guess we won't be getting married, Mato..." Aku hearing this, his eyes going wide as he remembered his own wife. He remembered how she'd helped create the most powerful mech in existence only for it to explode, burning her body in the process. It was the saddest day of his life, then he'd lost his only daughter because of his own stupid decisions. How could he bring himself to destroy a strong relationship like this when he'd suffered so much?

However, the others failed to notice Aku feeling this way as they panicked, not sure what to do. Mato was currently panicking the most, biting her nails all the while, tears going down her face.

However, Midori noticed Aku's grip start to weaken as Neil fell toward the ground, Midori's eyes going wide as everyone went in to help Neil only for Aku to regain his senses, hitting them all except for Paildramon. Needless to say, it didn't take long for Mato and Neku to realize they had to save the boy.

As Neil was about to hit the ground, he felt a metallic hand catch him as he sniffed and said, "You saved me, honey-pumpkin," as suddenly, the other mechs started to glow as Aku's eyes went wide, the man asking, "Wait, what's going on?"

Alejandro laughed and replied, "It could very well be the cheesiest thing ever," Kotaha smiling and adding, "Unlike you guys, we have the power of friendship and love! That's what makes us different from any other team! We all matter to each other!"

With that, all of the mechs came together to form a hybrid of their own, one that was the exact same size as Chimairamon as Yomaki grinned saying, "Wow, this one's a level that's unheard of! It's a Mega level mech and its name is Heromon!" *

Kotaha's eyes sparkled as she said, "Wow... we all managed to create this..." Mato grinning wide and exclaiming, "This is so epically awesome!" Alejandro adding, "This'll be a fight to remember for sure!"

Aku grimaced and spat, "NO, I WON'T LET YOU WIN!" sending all of his might toward them only for Heromon to punch open one of his arms in less than a second, the man panicking.

Aku tried relentlessly to strike back only for Heromon to block every single blow, eventually opening up a chest cannon and blasting Chimairamon hard. However, the ultimate mech ignored the damage, responding with a powerful blast of dark energy, causing Heromon to start breaking down as Neil's eyes went wide, the boy shouting, "WHAT THE HELL! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" *

Alejandro held the controls and spat, "Don't break down on us now!" Midori grunting, "Come on, work!"

Unfortunately, Heromon was slowly deteriorating every second as Aku laughed wickedly shouting, "I DID IT! AFTER ALL THAT STRUGGLE, I FINALLY DEFEATED YOU FOOLS!"

"Don't count on it!" Neil spat as suddenly, the part representing Metalgreymon detached from the model, Mato next to Neil in the cock pit as Aku's eyes widened, Chimairamon beating away at Metalgreymon until it devolved into Greymon. However, this seemed to only restore its strength as Chimairamon kept up the assault, Greymon slowly becoming Agumon as Neil and Mato were now cramped up against each other, Neil shouting, "DO ALL YOU WANT TO US, BUT WE'LL NEVER BACK DOWN!" Agumon leaping atop the ultimate's face, forcing open its mouth and sending a huge Pepper Breath down its gullet, Aku's eyes widened as the fireball went down the tube into the cockpit, hitting him hard as he cried out in pain, his skin starting to melt as he whimpered, "But... how...?"

Soon enough, Chimairamon powered down as its torso opened up, revealing a skeleton inside as everyone stared with shock, Yomaki knowing what this meant as a smile formed on her face, the woman shouting, "WE DID IT!" everyone else cheering wildly as Agumon landed firmly against the ground, Neil's head running to the side of Mato's breast as he smiled nervously saying, "Sorry, honey."

Mato held Neil close, placing his head against her chest while stroking his head with a warm smile, saying, "We won and that's all that counts," Neku nodding in agreement.

Neil smiled and reached around Mato's head, pulling it inward and planting a kiss saying, "You're just the cutest thing!"

Alejandro cheered happily, climbing out of his mech and hugging Midori tightly, spinning around with her as both shouted, "WE DID IT!" the two embracing each other and sharing a long kiss, Alejandro no longer caring if someone from the Paparazzi was around or not.

Seeing this, Morrigan sighed, "It's time for a career change," a group of police officers slapping handcuffs on her and her associates saying, "After you serve a year in prison for your crimes!"

Yae also got this treatment, sighing, "I can't say I don't deserve this," then looked up at Midori with tears, Midori walking over to her and giving her sister a hug saying, "It's okay. You did what you thought was right." *

Yae smiled sweetly as she accepted her punishment, allowing the cops to take her to jail. She knew what she'd done and was ready to pay in full for it.

Aku's body wasn't even taken from the scene. No one believed that he deserve a proper burial, not when he knew he was doing wrong. His now ex-workers were still ashamed to have ever tried to help him. He'd tricked them into being his servants.

Kotaha sighed with relief as she felt a slight pain in her stomach, the others staring with concern until she smiled sweetly, saying, "My baby's kicking," Yomaki feeling the spot and saying, "Hey, you're right," before nodding her head, pretending to understand what the foetus was communicating and adding, "The baby says it's happy we were able to put an end to this war."

Neil simply stared at her strangely as Yomaki shot him a glare, Neil gulping and nodding, pretending to agree while saying, "Yeah, I wouldn't doubt that for a second," Kotaha giggling in response to this as Midori said, "The best part is you managed to pull this off without Luchi finding out."

"Yeah," Kotaha replied, nodding her head in agreement, "If he knew I was participating in a war, he would have flipped his lid," Neku remarking, "Someone that calm flipping his lid? I'll believe it when I see it."

With that, everyone climbed into their mechs, the robot taking off and heading back to the base. The robots all gave each other high fives and thumbs up, Megumi sighing, "I may never get to use you again, Renamon, but at least I got to use you once."

The Renamon mech had grown a strange attachment to the crazy mechanic as she did something surprising, opening her mouth wide and pulling Megumi out, placing the woman atop her head. Megumi's eyes sparkled as she beamed, enjoying the ride atop her mech's head. This was the greatest moment of her life.

And so the mechs flew off into the distance, sunset just arriving. This had been the perfect time for the horror to come to an end. *

Notes: *1) I actually had to add this as Mato and Neku's writer kept forgetting Paildramon was supposed to be fighting Brachiomon.

*2) Completely made-up Digimon specifically for this story, but to be honest, I wish I'd come up with a better name.

*3) The following was heavily inspired by the final battle in Gurren Lagann.

*4) Pretty much the rest of this chapter is added stuff as I didn't want to get to the other stuff until the next chapter when I have a lot more pages with work with.

*5) Stick around. There's an epilogue.


	16. Chapter 16

Rise of the Mechanical Digimon

Note: This epilogue is mostly a bunch of weddings. Just thought you should know in advance.

And with all said and done, peace seemed to return. Everything became back in order as the mech battles had finally come to a close. After almost three months, Neil and Mato were finally going to get married, his family arriving just in time for it.

However, before that, the guys at the workplace were holding Neil a bachelor party as Neil looked around at the guys drinking sighing, "Why did you bring me to a bar? You know I don't drink!"

Alejandro chuckled a bit, slugging Neil on the shoulder and replying, "This is one of those rare times where you won't have a wife to worry about anymore. A bar is just the place to spend it."

All the while, Mato was being given a bridal shower, Midori saying, "I hope Alejandro doesn't drink too much. Drunk guys are known to forget their moral values," then pulled out a golden dress asking, "So what do you think, Mato? Is it too much?"

Mato let down a sweat drop, laughing nervously and replied, "I personally think white is better," Neku suddenly entering despite the fact that this was a party for girls.

He simply handed Mato a bouquet of flowers, his cheeks pink as he said, "Congratulations on the marriage," Mato beaming and taking the flowers while saying, "They're so pretty. Thanks, Neku-Chan."

Suddenly, the other girls stared as Jasmine asked, "Who let a boy into the bridal shower?" Midori shrugging saying, "He just walked in. I felt no need stopping him."

Kotaha giggled and replied, "He cares about Mato, nothing wrong with that."

"Exactly," Midori replied, "Besides, we let a man shower with us on a regular basis now. This is nothing."

At that moment, Yomaki entered with 20 six packs, four of the cans open and emptied as she asked, "Anyone want beer? Maybe we can get Mato wasted and make her have lesbian sex with me," letting out a hiccup before laughing at Kotaha's face saying, "Hello, darling. How ya doin today?"

Kotaha had her hand over the baby bump, the child was due in about five weeks so she smiled a bit before replying, "Well, I have been holding strong. Though it seems happy to be at a party and is kicking really hard."

"Here, have a beer!" Yomaki replied with a grin before laughing and saying, "I have no idea what's so funny, but... it's just so funny!" Midori whistling and saying, "Okay, now I see why those four cans are empty."

Kotaha smiled, staying away from the beverage when Megumi entered, a look of annoyance on her face as she groaned, "There you are, Yomaki! Why don't you go upstairs and watch the moon and the stars, then maybe we can find a movie for you to watch," taking the woman's hand and leading her upstairs while mouthing an apology to everyone.

Yomaki laughed some more saying, "That sounds lovely. Then maybe afterwards, we can make out..." Megumi sighing, "You know full well I have a boyfriend now."

Soon enough, it was time as Neil showed up in his nicest suit, his family wishing him the best as Midori approached him with Alejandro by her side saying, "Wow, you look dashing. I almost can't recognize you with that smart and sophisticated look," Neil lowering his eyelids.

Mato squealed excitedly, wearing a fancy white dress as she embraced Neil like a teddy bear squeaking, "He's so handsome!"

Neil's face was beet red as he said, "And you look more adorable than ever before," his eyes going wide from the pressure, Neku standing to the side wearing a loose necktie.

Neil smiled and said, "This is truly the happiest moment of my life," Midori asking, "What about your wedding kiss?" Neil remarking, "That hasn't happened yet."

Beat noticed a piece of paper on the floor and said, "Hm? What's this? Maybe somebody dropped it. . ." picking up the paper. Mato and Neku went in for a closer look at the piece. They gasped when they saw it for a few seconds, and then they broke into hysterics. Well, Neku tried to hold back his laugh while Mato and Beat laughed like hyenas, banging on the floor.

Megumi and Kotaha were giggling slowly and quietly while Alejandro was in stitches. Whatever was causing this much laughter had to have been embarrassing.

Neil blinked and asked, "Wait, what is that?" Midori looking at it and breaking out into hysterics, Neil's eyes wide as he asked, "Wait, what is this? I wanna see!"

Mato held her stomach, showing him the paper. Neil's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped, his face turning red as he yelled, "Oh my god! Where did this come from!"

Mato snickered as Neil sighed, flipping the picture over and noticing a message on the back, whispering the words, "Treat Mato well and make sure she doesn't divorce you or else I'll let the whole world see this, sincerely, Miss Yomaki," a picture of a heart next to Yomaki's name as the man's eyelids narrowed, Neil stuffing the paper into his pocket and saying, "She took a picture of that?" *

Neil simply gulped and put on a serious expression saying in a forced British accent, "I shall not stand for this mockery! If you excuse me, I have a wedding to prepare for!" walking into the building as Midori sniffed, "Oh, god, this is too good."

Alejandro wiped a tear and said, "That was too good, but I do feel bad about disgracing him on his big day," Megumi grinning wickedly and replying, "This could make for good blackmail, though."

"Hey, guys, I think Neil's alright with it," Midori said, "Come on, that fake accent of his couldn't have been serious."

And sure enough, Neil was laughing a little after entering the church. Of course, it was only a matter of time until he was to stand on stage with the girl of his dreams.

Soon enough, everyone was gathered around as the priest called Neil to the stand, the man walking down the aisle and doing his best to look as professional as possible, everyone giving him thumbs up as he approached the podium, the priest saying, "Now will the bride proceed forward?" Mato walking gracefully toward the stage. Sure, Neil had seen her in her dress earlier, but his heart was still racing, his eyes wide with amazement.

With that, the priest gave a speech before asking, "Do you, Neil, take Mato to be your lawfully wedded wife to love and cherish until death do you part?" Neil nodding and saying, "I do," the priest then asking, "Mato, do you take Neil to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Mato nodding and replying, "I do."

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife," the priest said, "You may kiss the bride."

With that, Neil looked Mato deep in the eyes before placing his lips softly against hers. Alejandro watched with a big grin as Kotaha and Megumi let down tears. Neku and Beat, meanwhile, applauded loudly in the back row.

With that, the bouquet was thrown as who should catch it but Midori, her eyes wide open. With that, Neil and Mato headed into a limo outside as soon enough, the two were off on their honeymoon with all expenses paid by the company.

After the wedding, Yomaki went into the storage area where all the mechs were and sighed, "Well, you fulfilled your purposes. I guess this is it unless some other terrorist group decides to attack us."

A couple of weeks after Neil and Mato's wedding, everyone was going about work as Yomaki watched the two newly-weds saying, "I thought their marriage was gonna screw up productivity, but Neil's working better than ever before."

Meanwhile, Midori was moving stage with Alejandro as she looked at Neil and Mato and said, "It's a good thing tomorrow is our day off, Alejandro, because I was thinking maybe we could go out."

Alejandro simply nodded, treating it like any other date offer. However, he knew this was the best thing she could have suggested as Alejandro had a big plan thought up. He had recently bought the most expensive diamond ring he could afford and knew what to do with it.

The following day, Midori and Alejandro went to a fancy restaurant as Midori asked, "Do I know how to pick the spots or what?" a waiter handing a large grilled squid to a customer.

They enjoyed one-another's company for a while, though after they had finished their meals Alejandro took Midori's hands in his own, stating, "Midori, my dearest. I have something to ask you," the woman nodding and replying, "I'm all ears."

He slowly got up from his seat, bending down on one knee and saying, "Midori, I have loved you so much since the day we met. You have stolen my heart and it is an honour to have you as my girlfriend. Though, I would adore to have you as mine for the rest of my life. I would love if we could have a small family of our own. With all that, Midori, will you marry me?"

Midori immediately held Alejandro in a tight embrace exclaiming, "YES, OF COURSE!" all the other customers saying, "Awwwww," the waiters and head chef letting down tears of joy.

The man held her close, whispering in her ears, "You have made me the happiest man on Earth," Midori whispering back, "And you've made me the happiest woman," kissing the man's neck before leaving a cheque on the dining table, the couple heading out of the restaurant.

The day work started up again, Neil, Mato, Midori, Alejandro and Neku had all been picked for a single task as Midori smiled at the others and said, "Hey, Alejandro has something to tell you all," Neil interested.

Alejandro wasn't nearly as embarrassed as he was when telling of their relationship this time around as he said, "Last night, I proposed to my dear Midori and we'll be married soon."

Neil's eyes sparkled as he said, "That's great! You'll be happy, I can guarantee that now that I'm a husband," kissing Mato on the cheek as Mato giggled, "Yeah, being a wife is awesome!" planting a big kiss on Neil's lips.

Midori nodded and said, "Still, I don't think we're nearly as cute as you two."

Later that day, everyone was having a shower as the girls all stared at Neil and Mato with their eyes sparkling, Neil sighing and turning to his dearly beloved, then back to them asking, "Will you stop looking at us like that if we give you what you want?" Midori nodding and saying, "Yes, just one quick squeeze and we'll never bother you again," Neil sighing, "Mato, what do you think?"

Mato blushed brightly and replied, "Well, okay, but not too hard."

With that, Neil quickly placed his hand against Mato's breast, making sure everyone was watching and giving it a quick, light squeeze saying, "There, you got what you wanted, now shut up," Midori smiling and saying, "We'll never bother you about it again," Neil sighing, "I am so sorry you had to deal with that, darling."

"Aw, don't worry about it, sugar-lips!" Mato replied, giving Neil a big hug.

"Sugar lips?" Neil asked, blinking before shrugging and patting his wife on the back, the girls all going, "Awwwwwwwwww," Neil asking, "Do you have anything better to do?"

Soon enough, it was Midori and Alejandro's wedding day as Yae had been temporarily let out of prison to attend, the girl saying, "Thank you so much for bailing me out, sis," Midori replying, "Well, it's not like you knew that you were doing the wrong thing."

Alejandro was nervous when he arrived, wearing a fancy tuxedo. He hoped he didn't look like a dork in Midori's eyes. After all, he'd never dressed like this before.

Seeing the groom standing there, Midori's eyes went wide as she smirked and said, "Well, don't you look handsome?" Alejandro beaming brightly.

"Isn't this sweet?" Neku asked, then sighed, "It's never gonna happen to me," Mato giving the man a noogie and remarking, "It might someday."

"Yeah, I remember our wedding like it was just a couple of months ago," Neil said with a smile, then blinked saying, "Oh, wait, it was a couple of months ago," then gave Mato a come-from-behind hug rubbing her belly saying, "Ah, feels like a healthy one in there."

"I still can't believe you chose to go through with your three children dream so early," Midori stated, "It won't be long until your next two, eh?"

Neil laughed and said, "Hey, let's not rush things too much here."

At that moment, Yomaki showed up and said, "Well, you look as handsome as can be, Alibabahadmagama," Alejandro narrowing his eyelids and remarking, "It's Alejandro."

"That's what I said, Allen," the woman replied as Midori sighed, "You are so cruel sometimes," Yomaki's eyes sparkling as she asked, "Really?"

"It's your cruelty that entertains others," Alejandro stated as Mato giggled, "Well, that is one of her good points."

With that, everyone was gathered around as the priest called up Alejandro, the man approaching the stand with a nervous grin on his face. The priest then called up Midori, the woman approaching with a smile on her face, Yae's eyes sparkling when she saw how pretty her sister looked.

As Midori walked up on stage, the priest asked, "Do you, Alejandro, take Midori to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Alejandro didn't have to think twice before replying, "I do," as Midori was asked same in which she smiled and said, "Of course I do," the priest making their marriage official as Midori wrapped an arm around Alejandro, spinning around as she held onto him, the man tilted back a bit as the woman planted an elegant, graceful kiss on him.

As the years went by, things were perfect. Kotaha eventually had her baby, a handsome young boy named Vino. Almost a year later, Neil and Mato had their first child, a baby girl of their own to be exact, the girl given the name Mina. Unfortunately, one proved too much to handle and Neil decided to go back on his three children dream. Alejandro and Midori also had a couple of children of their own, a daughter and a son named Nathaniel and Jenna.

One day, the group met up for a picnic as Neil waved at the others, Kotaha waving back as Luchi said, "Hey there, man, how's life?" Neil replying, "Everyday is a ray of sunshine with Mato around," the woman blushing wildly and replying, "You are so sappy, Neil-Chan!" kissing his cheek while cradling Mina.

Alejandro and Midori also arrived with their children in a stroller, Nathaniel stealing Jenna rattle, the baby girl slapping him hard in the face and taking it back, sticking out her tongue as Midori grinned, cooing, "That's my good little girl! Show him that girls are tougher than guys!" Alejandro staring at her as she sighed, "Come on, you know you're no match for me," Alejandro sighing, "Yes..."

Speaking of which, Yomaki was looking at the mechs with Neku by her side saying, "Now all they can do is collect dust... such a shame, but at least we'll never have to use them for combat purposes again."

Neku nodded and replied, "Yeah, but at least we can still see them every now and then," a woman's voice suddenly calling out, "Neku!" the man sighing, "Alright, I'm coming, Shiki."

Yomaki grinned and said, "Oh, so you finally got yourself someone, eh? I thought you were too sophisticated for that," Neku blushing and retorting, "Shut up! I just can't get away from her is all! She keeps finding me!"

"Right..." Yomaki replied with a laugh, then shouted, "Hey, Megumi, I have a job for you!" the mechanic turning to her and asking, "Yeah, what is it?"

Yomaki let out a sigh and said, "I want you to make sure no one ever steals these mechs. I don't care what you do, make a super-powered lock or something, just make it happen."

Megumi smiled, giving her boss and army salute before exclaiming, "You'd better believe I'll do it, but I'll make it even stronger than you could ever imagine!" Yomaki sighing, "Just make the damn lock, already."

All in all, things had certainly turned out for the best. Everyone was living a happy life, Yae was released from prison and starting anew while Morrigan, Nathan, Jason and Zet all had Aku's former company torn down in exchange for a toy factory where they used the metal from the mechs to make action figures. And thus our story comes to a close.

The end.

Notes: *1) And no, it was never specified what was in the picture. I had no idea what they were going for.


End file.
